CSKT Bison Range
58355 Bison Range Rd
Charlo, MT
A grassland refuge for wild bison, on the Flathead Reservation, now owned and cared for again by the tribes whose ancestors saved the herd.
The CSKT Bison Range is a rolling sweep of native grassland in the Mission Valley where wild bison still move across the prairie much as they always did. For most of the past century it was the federal National Bison Range, established in 1908 on land carved from the Flathead Reservation without the consent of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, even though tribal families had helped save the very herd it protected.
In 2020 Congress corrected that history. Through the Montana Water Rights Protection Act, the range was restored to the CSKT, and the tribes took over full ownership and management, telling the place's story at last from their own perspective. Visitors today drive among the bison on a landscape that is both a serious conservation area and an ancestral homeland.
What Guests Love
- Watching wild bison graze on native prairie from a self-guided auto tour
- The Red Sleep Mountain Drive climbing to big views over the Mission Valley
- Pronghorn, bighorn sheep, elk, deer, and abundant birds along the loop
- Learning the range's history told at last from the tribes' own point of view
Worth Knowing
- The steep, one-way Red Sleep Drive is seasonal and closed to large vehicles and in winter; a shorter loop stays open
- Stay in your vehicle around the bison; they are wild, fast, and unpredictable
- Bring binoculars and patience, and drive slowly for the best wildlife
- This is tribal land; follow posted rules and treat it as the working conservation area and homeland it is
Details
Charlo, MT
Learn about CSKT Bison Range
The herd, and a long injustice made right
The bison here trace in part to animals gathered and protected in the 1800s by Native families in the Flathead country, when the great herds were being wiped out across the plains. That effort helped keep the species from vanishing, and animals from those early conservation herds seeded refuges across the West.
In 1908 the federal government established the National Bison Range on nearly 19,000 acres inside the Flathead Reservation, taking the land without the tribes' consent and excluding tribal members from managing the very herd their ancestors had helped save. For more than two decades the CSKT worked to reclaim it.
That work succeeded in 2020, when Congress restored the range to the tribes as part of the Montana Water Rights Protection Act. The lands were placed back in trust for the CSKT, and by 2022 the tribes had assumed full ownership and management. It stands as one of the most significant returns of a wildlife refuge to a Native nation in the country.
Driving the range
The heart of a visit is a self-guided auto tour. The centerpiece is the Red Sleep Mountain Drive, a steep, narrow, one-way gravel road that climbs high above the valley and forms a long loop with the Prairie Drive, offering wide views of the Mission Mountains and the herds below. A shorter, gentler loop stays open when the mountain road is closed.
Beyond the roughly several hundred bison, the range shelters pronghorn, elk, white-tailed and mule deer, bighorn sheep, black bears, coyotes, and a rich bird life across its grasslands and creek bottoms. Spring calving and the autumn rut are especially good times to watch the herd.
Because the bison are genuinely wild, visitors stay in their vehicles on the tour roads. The reward for slow, quiet driving is the sight of a landscape working as it should, a prairie ecosystem cared for by the people who belong to it.
Seasons and the setting
The full mountain drive generally runs in the warmer months and closes for winter and mud, while the shorter loop and the visitor area operate year-round; conditions can change, so it is worth checking before you go. Early morning and evening bring out the wildlife and the best light on the Missions.
The range sits in the Mission Valley on the Flathead Reservation, easy to fold into a drive between Missoula and Flathead Lake. Nearby, the National Bison Range's old neighbor refuges and the Ninepipe wetlands add more birding, and the Mission Mountains rise wild and glaciered to the east.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Moiese
Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge
About 10 miles
A pothole-and-wetland complex in the Mission Valley alive with waterfowl and nesting birds.
Mission Mountains
East of the valley
A wild, glacier-carved range with a tribal wilderness on the reservation side, rising sharply above the prairie.
Flathead Lake
About 25 miles
The largest natural freshwater lake in the West, with cherry orchards and state parks along its shores.
Garden of One Thousand Buddhas
About 20 miles
A serene Buddhist garden near Arlee on the reservation, ringed by white statues under the Missions.