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Welcome to BREDD

The BitterRoot Economic Development District, Inc (BREDD) is the federally designated economic development district for Western Montana Region covering Ravalli, Mineral, and Missoula counties. BREDD is responsible for regional economic development planning and collaborates with various private and public sector agencies to accomplish this goal. BREDD brings together the private and public sectors in a partnership necessary to provide a coordinated strategy and an ongoing economic development program for the region.

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fish creek mineral county
Fish Creek, Mineral County Montana
The Bitter Root Economic Development District is comprised of three counties covering 6,212 square miles. The district’s counties, Mineral, Missoula and Ravalli, are located in west central Montana, bounded on the north by the Flathead Indian Reservation, on the west by the Bitterroot-Selway Wilderness and Idaho, and on the south and east by the Sapphire Mountains and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Elevation is lowest where the Clark Fork River leaves Mineral County, with Trapper Peak in southern Ravalli County the highest point at 10,157 feet above sea level.

About 15 percent of the state’s population is found in the three counties, with the city of Missoula having a population of 57,053. Ravalli County has experienced the fastest population growth during the last decade, at 44.2 percent from 1990 to 2000. Missoula County grew 21.8 percent during the same period and Mineral County had the least, at 17.2 percent.

Missoula is the center of a multi-county trade area, which extends toward Butte, toward the Flathead region and into the Salmon area of Idaho to the south. Interstate 90 runs through both Mineral and Missoula counties and brings tourism and a large percentage of retail goods into the area. Montana Rail Link follows the Interstate and the Missoula International Airport is the primary air link for the three counties.

The region hosts some of the tourism between Yellowstone and Glacier parks and into the Flathead Lake area. A large percentage of those going into the Bitterroot-Selway, Bob Marshall and Anaconda-Pintlar wilderness areas enter from the three counties.