Montana-Dakotas Diversity Partners

BLM Montana-Dakotas is dedicated to diversity and forging partnerships in the workplace.

We work with Native American tribes, military veterans, people with disabilities and many other groups to provide training and employment opportunities. BLM Montana-Dakotas promote a diverse and safe work environment where all employees are valued, motivated, productive, and have opportunities to grow.

Featured Partnership

The BLM Missoula Field has developed a collaborative tribal college student internship program between Salish Kootenai College and the BLM.

The BLM Missoula Field has developed a collaborative tribal college student internship program between Salish Kootenai College and the BLM. The internship programs advances the education and training/experience of Native American students pursuing degrees in disciplines (forestry, hydrology, cultural, wildlife biology, etc.) associated with natural resource management. The internship lasts 12 weeks (mid-June through mid-September) during the summer field season. As part of their degrees, Salish Kootenai College requires students to take part in an internship program and write an undergraduate thesis based on their internship experience. In 2015, five tribal student interns were recruited through the college from five different tribes. Two of the students worked in Upper Missouri National Monument in Fort Benton, as river operations support. One student was from New Mexico and from the Navajo tribe and the other was from Minnesota from the Ojibway/Lakota tribe. Two students worked in the Central Montana District at the Lewistown Field Office as recreation technicians. Of those students, one was from Wisconsin and the Hochunk tribe and the other was from here in Montana with the Crow tribe. The fifth tribal student worked in the Western District in Missoula as a recreation aide and was also a tribal student from Montana with the Salish-Kootenai tribe.