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Montana state symbols

Montana has 20 official state symbols. The oldest is the bitterroot, the state flower since 1895, and the newest is the American rodeo, named the state sport in 2025. Children had a hand in many of them: they voted for the state bird, the state tree and the state animal, and fourth graders proposed the state soil.

20 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

The first symbols

Montana’s seal and its motto, Oro y Plata, “Gold and silver,” go back to the territory’s first years, and the seal was written into state law in 1893. The bitterroot came next. In 1894 Mary Long Alderson, president of Montana’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, launched a campaign for a state flower, partly to give women practice in organizing and voting. The 1895 Legislature made the bitterroot official. The flag followed in 1905, copying the banner Montana’s volunteer infantry had carried in the Spanish-American War.

Chosen by children

Montana’s schoolchildren have picked several symbols. In 1908 Helena students voted for the ponderosa pine as state tree, though the Legislature did not act until 1949. In 1930 children statewide chose the western meadowlark, and the 1931 law that made it the state bird cites their vote.

The most elaborate election came in 1982. Secretary of State Jim Waltermire organized a contest for a state animal as a civics lesson: schoolchildren nominated more than 74 animals and then held primary and general elections. The grizzly bear won by roughly two to one and became the state animal on April 7, 1983. Children also campaigned for the mourning cloak butterfly in 2001, and in 2015 fourth graders at Longfellow Elementary School in Bozeman persuaded lawmakers to name Scobey the state soil. It covers more than 700,000 acres of the wheat country of north-central Montana known as the Golden Triangle.

Gems and dinosaurs

In 1969 Montana named two gemstones, a pairing the Montana Historical Society reads as a nod to the state’s regional divide: sapphires, found in the west, and agates, found in the east. The famous Yogo sapphires come only from Yogo Gulch near Lewistown, and Montana agates are collected along the Yellowstone River, especially between Forsyth and Sidney.

The state fossil, named in 1985, is Maiasaura peeblesorum, a duck-billed dinosaur. Nests found near Choteau by Jack Horner and Bob Makela gave early evidence that some dinosaurs cared for their young, and the name means “good mother lizard.”

Grass, trout and huckleberries

Some symbols speak to Montana’s outdoor life. Bluebunch wheatgrass, the state grass since 1973, is valued as early-greening, drought-tolerant forage for livestock and wildlife. The blackspotted cutthroat trout became the state fish in 1977 after a campaign by Norma B. Ashby; anglers wanted a native game fish that no other state had claimed, found in more than one part of Montana and distinctive in appearance. The huckleberry became the state fruit in 2023, and the American rodeo the state sport in 2025.

Songs and a campus

Montana has three official songs. “Montana,” written in 1910, has been the state song since 1945. “Montana Melody,” by Carleen and LeGrande Harvey, became the state ballad in 1983, as a compromise after a bill to replace the state song with it. “Montana Lullaby,” by Ken Overcast and Wylie Gustafson, became the state lullaby in 2007. Since 1991 the campus of the University of Montana in Missoula has been the state arboretum.

1 1860s 1880s 2 1 1900s 1920s 1 2 1940s 2 1960s 2 3 1980s 1 2 2000s 1 2 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 1980s, with three.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Food and drink

Songs, words and language

Culture and history

Places and institutions

Questions about Montana's symbols

What is the Montana state animal?
The grizzly bear, named in 1983 after a statewide election held by schoolchildren, who nominated more than 74 animals.
What is the Montana state fossil?
Maiasaura peeblesorum, a duck-billed dinosaur whose name means "good mother lizard." Its nests near Choteau gave early evidence that some dinosaurs cared for their young.
What is Montana's state gemstone?
Montana has two, both named in 1969. Sapphires are found in the west of the state and agates in the east.
What is the Montana state fish?
The blackspotted cutthroat trout, named in 1977. Anglers wanted a native game fish that no other state had claimed.
What is the state song of Montana?
'"Montana," written in 1910 and adopted in 1945.'
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