| Fast Facts |
location
200 miles northeast of Great Falls; 89 miles northeast of Lewistown
ecoregion
Northern Great Plains Steppe
project size
2.5 million acres
preserves
Matador Ranch
public lands
Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Bureau of Land Management and Montana State trust lands
partners
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Bureau of Land Manage-ment, ranching community, Fort Belknap Indian Reservation
natural events
grassland birds breed, June; Fort Belknap Indian Reservation Pow Wow, summer; Lewis and Clark bicentennial events celebrated along the Missouri River, beginning 2004 | |
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Big-sky ranches of native prairie are central to the survival of grassland birds, whose populations are declining faster than any other group of species in North America. |
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Missouri River, Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
© Joel Sartore |
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The wedge of Great Plains between the Milk and Missouri rivers rolls tan and treeless beneath the dome of blue sky. Winters roar down from Canada bitter cold and dry, plunging temperatures to -40º F but sending little snow. With only 12 inches of precipitation a year, the windswept grasses are short, a burnt-tawny stubble spreading across the plains of north-central Montana. These plains are glaciated, having been scraped bare some 18,000 years ago by an ice sheet that halted its southward slide at the present-day Missouri River.
Down in the Missouri Breaks, where the plains drop off into weathered badlands, Lewis and Clark campsites are scattered along the river banks. This wilderness section of river is the least-changed landscape along the Corps of Discovery’s entire route. In 1877, Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce crossed the river and fled north toward Canada and their only hope for independence. Days later, on the plains, these last free members of the tribe that had helped Lewis and Clark survive surrendered to pursuing federal troops and were sent to live on reservations. From this land spring stories of defiance and lawlessness, of cattle rustlers and Kidd Curry and the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. |
Black-footed ferret.
© Joel Sartore |
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The country remains somehow untamed and un-bowed, perhaps because it is also unpeopled. Like much of the Great Plains, this part of Montana has seen an exodus of human residents since the 1920s. Even though bison and grizzly bears disappeared long ago, wild nature remains. The glaciated plains are the epicenter of grassland bird |
| diversity, with excellent native prairie remaining for long-billed curlews and their brethren—birds that have experienced the steepest population declines of any group of North American species. | |
The legacy of cattle barons, big ranches offer the best hope of protecting Montana’s grasslands. But hard times are forcing some ranchers to sell, allowing mechanized agriculture to move in and plow native prairie. As a primary conservation strategy, The Nature Conservancy works with local ranchers. In 2000, we purchased the 60,000-acre Matador Ranch and are pioneering cooperative grazing management agreements in which ranchers share the Matador’s grassland forage in exchange for wildlife protection on other grazing lands. We have also brought together ranchers, federal agencies and conservation organizations to restore populations of prairie dogs, which are the central prey of black-footed ferrets, the most endangered mammal in North America.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in Montana. |
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| Conservation Profile |
targets
black-footed ferret, black-tailed prairie dog, mixed-grass prairie, grassland birds including ferruginous hawk, long-billed curlew
stresses
invasive species, plowing of prairie grasslands, incompatible grazing practices, mass poisoning of black-tailed prairie dogs
strategies
promote ecologically compatible grazing practices, encourage conservation management of public land, build conservation alliances, combat invasive species
results
60,000-acre Matador Ranch acquired; local advisory committee convened; 42 black-footed ferrets reintroduced, with two young born in the wild | | | | |
