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Montana

Buying Land in Blaine County, Montana

Blaine County, seat Chinook, is shaped by two things that don't come up in most Montana counties: the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation (home to the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes), where trust land dominates the land base, and an irrigated agricultural economy running on a century-old federal water-delivery system whose 2020 failure is still being repaired.

Fort Belknap Reservation Land Status

Case-by-case / verify locally

The Fort Belknap Indian Reservation (Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes) sits mostly within eastern Blaine County. Land records for the reservation show roughly 163,000 acres of tribally-owned land and roughly 428,000 acres of individual trust allotments out of a total reservation area near 649,000 acres -- meaning trust land (not privately purchasable fee land) makes up the large majority of the reservation's land base. Don't assume a parcel inside the reservation boundary is available fee land; confirm status with the BIA Fort Belknap Agency and the Fort Belknap Indian Community's own land office.

Zoning

Could not confirm

Public county records reference a Blaine County zoning map adopted by Ordinance No. 94-12 in 1994, alongside a currently active Planning & Zoning Commission and 2017 Subdivision Regulations -- but available sources don't make clear the ordinance's current geographic scope (county-wide vs. a district near Chinook) or whether it remains in force as adopted. This is a genuine gap in public documentation, not a settled 'no zoning' finding -- confirm directly with the county planner before assuming either way.

Milk River Project Water Delivery

Case-by-case / verify locally

Much of Blaine County's irrigated farmland depends on Milk River Project water delivered via the century-old St. Mary Diversion and Canal, whose infrastructure catastrophically failed in May 2020, cutting water to roughly 800 irrigators across the wider project area for a season. Repairs have been completed, but the underlying infrastructure is aging and rehabilitation work is ongoing -- a physical-delivery reliability question that's separate from the water right itself.

Floodplain Exposure

Could not confirm

County subdivision documentation notes that much of Blaine County, including parts of Chinook, lies in a floodplain, and a floodplain permit is required before building there. Confirm floodplain status for any specific parcel with the county before assuming a rural lot is outside a mapped flood zone.

Fort Belknap Reservation: land status is overwhelmingly trust, not fee

The Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, home to the Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (A'aninin) Tribes, occupies most of eastern Blaine County (with a smaller share in neighboring Phillips County). Reservation land records put tribally-owned acreage at roughly 163,000 acres and individually-allotted trust land at roughly 428,000 acres, against a total reservation area near 649,000 acres -- meaning close to 90% of the reservation's land base is held in one form of federal trust or another, not owned outright as private fee land. That's a meaningfully more concentrated trust-land pattern than some other Montana reservations, where fee parcels are more evenly interspersed with trust land.

Practically, this means fee (privately purchasable, taxable) land within the Fort Belknap Reservation boundary should be treated as the exception rather than an assumption. As with any reservation land, trust-land transactions require approval through the tribal land office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Fort Belknap Agency, not a standard county closing. See the tribal-trust-land-status page below for how to actually verify a specific parcel's status through BIA's own title records before making an offer.

The Milk River Project: century-old federal infrastructure, not just a water right

Agriculture in Blaine County runs substantially on irrigated hay, alfalfa, and grain land along the Milk River, and much of that water doesn't originate on the Milk River itself -- it's diverted from the St. Mary River in Glacier National Park through the roughly 29-mile St. Mary Canal into the North Fork of the Milk River, under the federal Milk River Project, built about a century ago and operated today by the Milk River Joint Board of Control in coordination with the Bureau of Reclamation. This is a real, physical piece of century-old infrastructure, and its condition is a live issue: on May 17, 2020, a section of the St. Mary Canal (Drop 5) suffered what project managers called an unprecedented structural failure, cutting water available to roughly 800 irrigators farming around 150,000 acres from Havre to Glasgow to about half their normal seasonal allocation, and also affecting domestic water for several communities and two tribal governments that draw from the same system.

Repairs to the failed sections have since been completed and water restored, but the diversion dam and canal system have well exceeded their original design life, and rehabilitation planning (including eventual replacement of the St. Mary Diversion Dam) is ongoing through a dedicated working group. For a buyer evaluating irrigated farmland in Blaine County, this matters independently of the water right itself (see the state hub for Montana's prior-appropriation framework): a parcel can hold a perfectly valid, senior water right and still face a real risk of reduced or interrupted delivery if the shared physical infrastructure it depends on fails again. Ask specifically whether a property's irrigation supply comes through the Milk River Project/St. Mary system, and if so, what its delivery history has looked like in recent seasons.

Zoning status: a genuine documentation gap, not a confirmed 'unzoned' county

Unlike some Montana counties where 'no zoning' is a clearly documented, current fact, Blaine County's public records are ambiguous. County documentation references a zoning map adopted by Ordinance No. 94-12 in 1994, and the county maintains both a Planning & Zoning Commission and Subdivision Regulations (most recently on file from 2017). What isn't clear from publicly available sources is the current geographic scope of that 1994 zoning action -- whether it applies county-wide, only in the immediate vicinity of Chinook, or has since been amended or allowed to lapse in practice.

Rather than guess, treat this as an open question to resolve directly with the Blaine County Planner before relying on any assumption about zoning coverage for a specific parcel. The same office administers subdivision review under the Montana Subdivision and Platting Act, and county documentation separately flags that much of the county, including parts of Chinook, lies within a floodplain requiring its own permit before building -- another parcel-specific fact worth confirming alongside zoning status.

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Blaine County

For any parcel inside the Fort Belknap Reservation boundary, the BIA Fort Belknap Agency and the Fort Belknap Indian Community's own land office are the authorities on trust-land status; the county cannot resolve that question on its own. Some third-party directory sites list a shared regional sanitarian contact for Blaine County that could not be independently corroborated against a Blaine County government source -- the Blaine County Health Department number above is the verified starting point instead.

Planning & Zoning

Blaine County Planner

Confirming current zoning status and coverage (including the scope of the 1994 zoning ordinance), subdivision review, and floodplain permit requirements.

Phone: (406) 357-2369Email: tmord2@mt.govOfficial website →

Other

Bureau of Indian Affairs -- Fort Belknap Agency

Confirming trust-vs-fee status of a parcel within or adjacent to the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, and the approval process for any transaction involving tribal or allotted trust land.

Phone: (406) 353-2901Official website →

Environmental Health

Blaine County Health Department

Septic permitting and environmental-health matters for fee land within the county; can direct to the county Sanitarian for subdivision/septic sign-off.

Phone: (406) 357-2345Official website →

Recorder / Clerk / Land Records

Blaine County Clerk & Recorder

Recorded deeds, certificates of survey, and plat history for a specific parcel.

Phone: (406) 357-3240Official website →

Assessor / Property Tax

Montana Department of Revenue -- Blaine County Field Office

Property appraisal and assessed-value questions for taxable (fee) parcels.

Phone: (406) 357-3210Official website →

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Topics Specific to Blaine County

Tribal Trust Land Status in Blaine County →

Sources

  1. Fort Belknap Indian Reservation (Montana) — FamilySearch Wiki (accessed 2026-09)
  2. Fort Belknap Indian Community — Fort Belknap Indian Community (accessed 2026-09)
  3. 'Fort Belknap Reservation Indian Trust Patent' land records (tribal/allotted acreage) — The Land Patents (BLM General Land Office records aggregator) (accessed 2026-09)
  4. Blaine County Subdivision Regulations (2017) — Blaine County, Montana Government (accessed 2026-09)
  5. The Milk River Project — St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group (accessed 2026-09)
  6. St. Mary Diversion Dam and Canal — U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (accessed 2026-09)
  7. $8 million project underway to repair St. Mary Canal collapse — Montana Free Press (accessed 2026-09)
  8. Blaine County Planner contact information — Blaine County, Montana Government (accessed 2026-09)
  9. Clerk & Recorder — Blaine County, Montana Government (accessed 2026-09)
  10. Fort Belknap Agency — Bureau of Indian Affairs (accessed 2026-09)
  11. Blaine County Emergency Contacts (Health Department listing) — Montana EDEN (accessed 2026-09)
  12. Long Range Conservation Plan For Blaine County Montana (agricultural/irrigation background) — USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (accessed 2026-09)

Last reviewed 2026-09