The Bison Range
Wildlife Reserve · Charlo, Montana
Nineteen thousand acres of native Palouse prairie and timbered mountain in the Mission Valley, holding a herd of several hundred bison descended in part from animals saved by Salish and Pend d'Oreille people in the 1870s. The federal government established a range here in 1908 on land inside the Flathead Reservation, taken without the consent of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. IN 2020 CONGRESS RESTORED IT TO THEM, and since 2022 the Tribes have managed it — the animals and the land are back under the people whose ancestors preserved the herd in the first place.
58355 Bison Range Road, Charlo, Montana, 59824, United States
Open year round with seasonal restrictions. RED SLEEP MOUNTAIN DRIVE runs roughly mid-May to mid-October, closes daily in the evening, and prohibits RVs, trailers and vehicles over a stated length; a shorter prairie drive operates when it is closed. An entrance fee is charged per vehicle and AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL PASSES ARE NOT ACCEPTED — the range left the federal system in 2022 and is managed by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, who set current hours and fees. Pets may not leave vehicles anywhere on the range.