Paradise Is No Accident

A Brief History of the Blackfoot-Clearwater Game Range

(From the June 20, 1996 Seeley Swan Pathfinder)

by Mike Thompson

Spanning some 77,000 acres, the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area is the largest property controlled by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), and accounts for nearly 20 percent of all lands owned or leased by FWP for wildlife habitat, fishing access, or parks across the entire state. The Game Range, as it is affectionately known in the Seeley Lake area, represents a staggering commitment on the part of the public to perpetuate elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer populations in western Montana.

Despite its apparent enormity, the Game Range covers only about 15 percent of the land mass occupied by the Blackfoot-Clearwater elk and deer herds during the course of a typical year. Although the term "game range" may evoke images of elk-proof fences and feedlots to the uninitiated, this Game Range is but one critical stopover in the traditional migrations of free-roaming, wild animals.

For most of us, the Game Range has always been here, but few folks still remember it as the Boyd Ranch. The Boyds ran a very labor intensive operation involving 6,000 sheep and 1,400 cattle. When wildlife populations began to recover from market hunting after the turn of the century, about 200 elk took up residence seasonally on the Boyd place and surrounding private ranches.
As nationwide support for restoring wildlife grew, so did conflicts between elk and livestock operations.

Winter was the most difficult period, when deep snows blanketed the mountains and concentrated elk on ranches in the lower valleys. Elk raided haystacks that the ranchers needed to feed their livestock. Wildlife managers were in need of a suitable place for elk to spend winter without competing with agriculture.

By the time the Boyd family offered their ranch for sale in 1948, a fledgling FWP was prepared to buy it with revenues from the sale of Montana hunting licenses, matched by revenues from a federal excise tax on arms and ammunition. Upon establishing the Game Range, FWP personnel maintained bait trails from adjoining lands to attract as many elk as possible to their new winter home. By the late 1950's, native rangelands on the Game Range had largely recovered and baiting was no longer necessary.

Today, roughly 900 elk, 1000 mule deer and 500-1000 white-tailed deer migrate from distant summer habitats to winter on the Blackfoot-Clearwater Game Range. If you limit your view to the twentieth century, these are the good old days. They are the fruit of numerous cooperative agreements, both formal and informal, that have been nurtured and maintained among major landowners in the Blackfoot-Clearwater area, using FWP's presence on the Game Range as one important cornerstone.

That perspective was never clearer than on a day last week in the Swan Range. In the company of a long-time hunter and a biologist for Plum Creek Timber Company, I followed well worn elk trails from the Game Range, across private and Forest Service lands, to our destination on a remote parcel owned by Plum Creek. Elk summer ranges lay miles further still. We compared notes on elk hunting, habits and habitats, and we discussed possible ways for Plum Creek to manage timber in a mutually beneficial manner. We were building on understanding gained from earlier discussions of related issues, involving other landowners and other places, all within the year-long range of the Blackfoot-Clearwater elk herd, and all influenced by FWP's investment in the Game Range.

People like my friend, Craig, are the fuel that keep these efforts going. A couple of years ago, he and his brother were relaxing high above Seeley Lake when an elk calf burst out of the bushes and ran through their camp. They had barely begun to appreciate the moment when a grizzly bear followed through in hot pursuit.

This is but one example of the many ways Game Range management is translated into human experiences that will be remembered for a lifetime. And, what price would you put on that?