sativa) and barley (Hordeum spp.) were grown for hay and 

 wildlife food on several river bottoms until the 1970s when 

 all cropping of bottomlands was phased out and fields were 

 allowed to revert to natural vegetation. The only remaining 

 cultivation occurred as a small area of dryland grains on 

 private lands on the extreme western edge of the study area. 



Numerous tracts of land privatized during homesteading 

 were repurchased by the Federal government following 

 abandonment or to secure lands adjacent to the Missouri River 

 for construction of the Fort Peck Dam which was completed in 

 1939. Publicly owned lands now comprise about 70% of the 

 study area. About 45% lies within the CMRNWR, established in 

 1936 and administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

 Refuge lands are open to hunting of most Montana game species 

 as provided for by State regulations for hunting districts 

 which encompass the area. Except for about 5% owned by the 

 State of Montana, remaining public lands are administered by 

 the Bureau of Land Management. 



For grazing purposes, most of the area has been 

 administered as part of the East Indian Buttes State Grazing 

 District, a large common allotment that also includes rolling 

 plains to the southwest. The remainder consists of small 

 units or pastures along the river bottom and two 

 privately-owned upland tracts on which livestock were wintered 

 until the 1970s. About 1600 animal units (AUs) are 

 authorized; however, actual use on the study area has varied 

 greatly from year to year and through time. Grazing is 

 primarily by cattle, but a few horses were included through 

 the years. Domestic sheep were grazed on adjacent plains and 

 into the breaks along the southern edge of the study area 

 until the 1960s. 



Mule deer are the most common and abundant large wildlife 

 species on the area. Others, in approximate order of 

 abundance are Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) , 

 white-tailed deer (O. virginianus) , pronghorn antelope 

 (Antilocapra americana) , and coyote (Canis latrans) . Mule 

 deer, elk, and coyotes range throughout the study area, while 

 whitetails are restricted largely to Missouri River bottoms 

 and antelope range into the area along major ridges. 



Elk, bison, and grizzly bear were essentially extirpated 

 from the study area by the mid 1880s; wolves were gone by the 

 1920s. The present elk population developed as a result of 

 release of 31 animals, transplanted from Yellowstone National 

 Park, on the study area in 1951. Since then, numbers and 

 distribution have increased consistently. Coyotes have always 

 been present, but numbers apparently were low during the late 

 1940s and early 1950s when the toxicants strychnine and 

 compound 1080 were first used in massive predator control 



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