Historic Habitat: 50,000 Acres Added to Montana’s American Prairie Reserve – Take a virtual tour

American Prairie Reserve https://www.americanprairie.org/ just became the proud, new steward of the iconic PN Ranch, a nearly 50,000-acre expanse of crucial wildlife habitat along the Missouri River in central Montana.

The PN represents an incredible chance to improve public access to more than 20,000 acres of private lands and permanently conserve key habitat in the wildlife corridors along the region’s river bottoms. And with the site of Montana’s first military outpost and one of the camps of Lewis & Clark, visitors to this special place will find an abundance of the great American spirit.

Take a virtual tour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=-vqxwAUKIBo&app=desktop

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Ranch buy adds to huge Montana wildlife reserve

A huge Montana nature reserve added a 47,000-acre historic ranch to its patchwork of lands along the Missouri River on Friday, a significant step in a privately funded effort to stitch together a Connecticut-sized park where bison would replace livestock and cattle fences give way to open range.

The PN Ranch north of Winifred sprawls across rugged badlands, tall grass prairie and cottonwood-filled valleys. It’s almost wholly within the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.

It includes the remnants of the Montana Territory’s first military post, Camp Cooke, and was reportedly a rendezvous point for American Indian tribes on the Great Plains.

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press

Full Story: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/ranch-buy-adds-to-huge-montana-wildlife-reserve/article_d0f694a7-e442-593c-802e-aa117ec3d4ea.html#utm_source=billingsgazette.com&utm_campaign=%2Femail-updates%2Flocal-newsletters%2Fdaily-headlines-afternoon%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more