In an effort to recover the service cost incurred for staff time and other expenses involved in data delivery, the Natural Resource Information System (NRIS) and the Montana Natural Heritage Program ( MTNHP) will charge a fee to private users of their data and services.

Fee Structure:

Basic Charge: $30.00 Access Fee per request. Includes one hour of data manager 's time to clarify user's data needs, conduct computer searches and retrievals, perform quality assurance checks, and to assemble and mail the completed data request, etc.

Materials Charge: $0.25/page of computer printout; $5.00/floppy disk

Staff Charge: $25.00 per hour, rounded to the nearest half-hour. Applies to data analysis, manual searches and map interpretations, technical assistance in defining needs, preparing special reports with the data, etc. (charge incurred with staff time over the one hour covered under basic charge)

Exemptions and Related Policies

• Charges only apply to private users of the NRIS/Heritage program. Private users are defined as "Any business, entity, or individual using, directly or indirectly, the data and services as part of a potential for-profit activity."
• No charges to government agencies, non-profit organizations, contractors and consultants on retainer to government agencies, or members of the general public.
• The NRIS Director reserves the right to waive user charges when a data request requires less than one hour of response time or when no data is provided that is relevant to user 's request.
• Invoices submitted with responses; payable in 30 days.
• All revenue is deposited into appropriate grant/contract accounts.

For more information about our fee policies, please contact us at mtnhp@mt.gov or by phone at (406) 444-5354.