Impact Land Services
Geothermal · Mining claims

Land, title & right-of-way services in Madison County, Montana

Madison County has no active federal geothermal leases today, but 6 closed leases on record. The ground has been tried before. 229 active right-of-ways cross federal land here, including 41 fiber or telecom grants and 31 transmission or power lines. We run title, leasing, and right-of-way acquisition on both sides of the federal line: the record above, and the private ground it's woven through.

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0
Authorized federal geothermal leases
229
Active rights-of-way on federal land
3 new in 12 months
41
Fiber & telecom rights-of-way
31
Transmission & power line ROWs
1,564
Open mining claims
1,542 active

Federal records from BLM's Mineral & Land Records System, queried against the Census county boundary. Current to September 1, 2026. Federal cases only; private and state land are not represented. A lease or right-of-way that crosses a county line is counted in each county it touches.

Geothermal on federal land

Leased and released: 6 closed federal geothermal leases, none active.

6 leases on 10,687 acres have been closed out here. That cuts both ways: the resource drew interest, and prior holders let it go rather than develop it. The reason is usually resource, access, or economics, and it is knowable before you commit capital.

Authorized leases0
Acres under authorized lease0
Producing0
Non-producing (held, not developed)0
Pending applications0
New leases, last 12 months0
Closed / relinquished on record6 · 10,687 ac
Rights-of-way · transmission & telecom

41 fiber and telecom rights-of-way lead the linear record here.

229 authorized right-of-ways and land use authorizations touch federal land in Madison County, 3 of them issued in the last twelve months. 4 applications are pending.

Of those, 41 fiber optic or communication grants, 31 transmission, distribution, or energy-facility grants. The named holders are the companies spending money on linear infrastructure in this county, and the federal segment is usually the shorter part of their route. The private miles in between are the work.

Authorized ROWs by type
Non-Energy Facilities
178
Other Energy Facilities
39
Fiber Optic Facilities
11
Exclusive
1
Holders on record (all types)
  • 3 Rivers Telephone Cooperative Inc.30 grants
  • Northwestern Corporation9 grants
  • Vigilante Electric Cooperative Inc.9 grants
  • Northwestern Energy5 grants
  • Northwestern Corp5 grants
  • Northwestern Corp Dba Northwestern Energy4 grants
  • Broadway Gold Corp2 grants
  • Chic Mil St P Pac Rr2 grants
Fiber & telecom holders
  • 3 Rivers Telephone Cooperative Inc.29 grants
  • Verizon Wireless2 grants
  • Madison County of2 grants
  • Mt Bur of Mines and Tech1 grant
  • Northwestern Corp Dba Northwestern Energy1 grant
  • Qwest Corporation1 grant
Transmission & energy-facility holders
  • Northwestern Corporation9 grants
  • Vigilante Electric Cooperative Inc.9 grants
  • Northwestern Energy5 grants
  • Northwestern Corp5 grants
  • Northwestern Corp Dba Northwestern Energy3 grants
Competing surface use

1,564 open mining claims compete for the same ground.

Mining claims don't stop a geothermal or right-of-way project, but they compete for surface, complicate siting and access, and each claimant is a party you have to deal with. 1,542 are active, 14 newly filed, 8 under review. Which ones actually sit in your footprint is a mapping question, and we answer it tract by tract.

Oil & gas

3 authorized federal oil and gas leases on 1,640 acres. 763 more have been closed out. Where oil and gas leasing is active, the mineral estate is very often severed from the surface, and that is the title question that decides whether ground is leasable.

Open mining claims1,564
Active1,542
Filed (new)14
Under review8
Authorized oil & gas leases3
Oil & gas acres under lease1,640
What this page can't tell you

The private half of Madison County isn't in any database.

Everything above is what the federal government controls. It does not show who owns a severed mineral or geothermal estate on private ground, whether that title is clean, what liens sit against it, or which families you'll be negotiating with. That lives in the Madison County recorder's office, and it is the step that decides whether you can actually lease the ground.

How we work here
  • Free Eval
    A self-serve read on your target area in the county.
  • Area Assessment
    Flat fee. We pull the full federal record for your area of interest and tell you what's held, who holds it, and what to do next.
  • Diligence & acquisition
    County title, tract by tract, with surface, mineral, and geothermal estates run separately. Then we lease it.
Run a free EvalRequest an Area Assessment
Elsewhere in Montana
Beaverhead CountyBroadwater CountyGallatin CountyJefferson CountyAll counties →
Source: Bureau of Land Management, Mineral & Land Records System, via gis.blm.gov; county boundary from the U.S. Census Bureau. Queried September 1, 2026. Informational only; not a title opinion or legal advice.
Land, Title & Right-of-Way Services in Madison County, MT | Impact Land Services