Bison Range

Bison Range
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
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Location	Lake / Sanders counties, Montana, USA
Nearest city	Missoula, MT
Coordinates	47°19′30″N 114°13′33″W / 47.32500°N 114.22583°W / 47.32500; -114.22583Coordinates: 47°19′30″N 114°13′33″W / 47.32500°N 114.22583°W / 47.32500; -114.22583[1]
Area	18,800 acres (76 km2)
Established	1908
Visitors	est. 250,000 (in 2004)
Governing body	Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
Website	www.fws.gov/refuge/national_bison_range

The Bison Range (BR), formerly the National Bison Range, is a nature reserve on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana established as a wildlife conservation area for the American bison. The size of the bison herd at the BR is between 350 and 500. Established as a National Wildlife Refuge in 1908, the BR consists of approximately 18,800 acres (7,600 ha) within the Montana valley and foothill grasslands. The management is in the process of being transferred from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

The BR has a visitor center, and two scenic roads that allow vehicular access to prime viewing areas. The range is approximately one hour north of Missoula, Montana off of U.S. Highway 93 directing visitors to the entrance at Moiese, Montana, and the range headquarters.

The range serves as the central point for bison research in the United States. Other nearby National Wildlife Refuges are managed as parts of the Western Montana National Wildlife Refuge Complex and includes the Lost Trail, Ninepipe, Pablo and the Swan River National Wildlife Refuges. Also affiliated is the Northwest Montana Wetland Management District.^[2][3]

History[]

Big Medicine on display at the Montana Historical Society museum

The National Bison Range was established in 1908 out of a portion of the Flathead Indian Reservation.^[4] The initial herd of American bison was purchased in 1909 with funds provided by the American Bison Society.^[5] The Range was established as a native bird refuge by Congress in 1921.^[4] The Civilian Conservation Corps built many of its buildings. Ernie Kraft, who began work at the Bison Range in 1955, published a history of the Bison Range and its people in 2006.^{[6]:1, 14, 18–22}

A white buffalo, "Big Medicine" (1933-1959, also called "Whitey"), spent his life at the Bison Range.^[6]:70–73 Tribal members visited him many times and held him in high esteem.^[7]

Returning the range to tribal control has been desired by members since it was taken over by the federal government and the tribe has submitted three proposals since 1994 to that end.^[8] The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 began a two-year transition process when it became law on December 27, 2020.^[9] With the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) taking the land into trust for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), the range was restored to the Flathead Indian Reservation.^[10] Assistant Secretary Tara Katuk Sweeney stated that “The CSKT have strong and deep historical, geographic and cultural ties to the land and the bison, and their environmental professionals have been leaders in natural resources and wildlife management for many decades.”^[10]

During the annual reopening of Red Sleep drive in May 2021, tribal officials said the public will see little change and all proceeds will be used for the management and operation of the Bison Range.^[9] Entrance fees were increased slightly and Federal-use passes are no longer accepted since it is no longer a Fish & Wildlife Service or National Park Service facility.^[11]

Geology[]

The Mission Mountains viewed from the Range

The range is a small, low-rolling mountain connected to the Mission Mountain Range by a gradually descending spur. Range elevation varies from 2,585 feet (788 m) at headquarters to 4,885 feet (1,489 m) at High Point on Red Sleep Mountain, the highest point on the Range. Much of the Bison Range was once under prehistoric Glacial Lake Missoula, which was formed by a glacial ice dam on the Clark Fork River about 13,000 to 18,000 years ago. The lake attained a maximum elevation of 4,200 feet (1,300 m), so the upper part of the Range was above water. Old beach lines are still evident on north-facing slopes. Topsoil on the Range is generally shallow and mostly underlain with rock which is exposed in many areas, forming ledges and talus slopes. Soils over the major portion of the Range were developed from materials weathered from strongly folded pre-Cambrian quartzite and argillite bedrock.^[12]

Ecology[]

A bison roaming at the Bison Range

Bison herd grazing at the Bison Range

Elk (Cervus canadensis) in a creek

The range protects one of most endangered ecosystems in North America, the intermountain bunchgrass prairie.^[13] In addition to the 350 to 500 bison on the Bison Range, many other mammal species may be seen on the refuge, including coyote, black bear, elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, white-tailed deer, pronghorn, mountain cottontail, Columbian ground squirrel, muskrat, yellow-pine chipmunk, badger, and cougar.^[14] Over two hundred bird species have been seen on the refuge.^[15] The Bison Range also contains many plant species, including the bitterroot, ponderosa pine, and buffalo grass.^[16]

Prior to the 1800s, bison were believed to number in the tens of millions, they once were found in all the current U.S. states, except Hawaii, and also throughout Canada.^[17]

Bison were nearly extinct by 1890, having been part of a Federal government sponsored program of eradication during the Indian Wars, thereby removing a vital food source from the Plains Indians diet, and ensuring easier relocation onto Indian reservations.^[18]

Access[]

Two gravel roads through the range provide viewing of bison and other wildlife.^[19]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Bison Range.

• Bison Range Restoration (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes)
• National Bison Range Oral History Project (University of Montana Archives)