Does Montana have any hardwoods to speak of, or is it all mostly pines?  I know it depends on the elevation.  Do any of you guys burn wood for heat?

Also, If a man was looking to leave the commie state of NY, move to Montana and become a freedom loving American, where in Montana would he want to live?

Hello!  have burnt wood for years.  Lots ofe burn wood. What I have seen has been maple.  I,m in Id Fls.  Mostly all pine there is very little "hardwoods" in the desert.  The more north you go the more maple.  East of here and 'west Wy you get into pine again and then there NOT MUCH OF NOTHING all the way to Canada.  Now, as more people come hear they build houses and such and usually plant some hardwoods and as they cut them down,well....there is that.  There just will never be the kind of trees and the amount that there is back East.

English translation please?

I live in MT. Have my whole life, and have heated many years with wood. The state is rich in pines, I have yet to see a real stand of any type of hardwood in the wild. As far as living here, the west is mountainous and has a distinct liberal air about it. The east is mostly plains and generally conservative. Either side of the state will likely be an improvement for you based on my travels of the metro areas back east. Just my observations and opinion, YMMV.

Hardwood?  What is that?  :) JKJKJK.  I will second what Abe said.  Depending on where you are at you have Ponderosa Pine, Lodgepole Pine and Douglas Fir.  We heat 100% with wood.  Compared to Oak or Maple you will not get as long of a burn time with Pine.  It also produces more crap to clog up your chimney.





I would say pretty much wherever you can find a job.  Some parts are just worse than others.  Also, no registration/permission or any of that silly nonsense. Go to the store and get whatever you want.  Full Auto and Silencers are common out here and not a big deal (other than expense).





-Corn

 

There's alot of ash too here in southeastern MT along the creeks, and cedar too.

oh, also cottonwood.

Yeah, but you gotta be hard up to burn that stinky shit

The west side of the state gets the "liberal" label because of Missoula.  It's a college town, what do you expect.  We've got a bunch of cosmopolitan yuppies that have invaded Whitefish also, but the rest of us are just as conservative, if not more so (remember we're closer to the Idaho panhandle ) than the east side.

Regardless of where in MT you want to settle a job is the key element.  The economy is really taking a hit out here.  If you're serious about coming out this way and need a "connection" let me know I'll do my best to network you around the northwest corner of the state.  I've got some friends out here that are "liberated" New Yorkers.  They escaped a long time ago.

Why cant you be a free loving American in NY?

I drove I-15 up to Canada a month ago. I noticed a lot of the pines from Butte to Helena were all brown or dead. It was really pretty to look at...but is there some bug infestation or funky tree virus?

the forests here are being hit pretty hard with mountain pine beetle.  the beaverhead-deerlodge national forest seem to be getting nailed more than the forests around missoula.  it's quite a change considering i recall driving around one year ago and there being mostly green.  now there are huge tracts of red.  let's hope it can get logged and cleared before lightning takes care of it.  it'll get fixed one way or another...