American Prairie Reserve Purchases Two Crow Ranch Nonprofit Adds More Than 46,000 Acres of Crucial Wildlife Habitat for Public Access

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 16, 2017

For more information: Jane Wright [email protected] 406-585-4600

American Prairie Reserve Purchases Two Crow Ranch Nonprofit adds more than 46,000 acres of crucial wildlife habitat for public access

A portion of the Two Crow Ranch

BOZEMAN, Mont. — American Prairie Reserve is pleased to announce the purchase of the Two Crow Ranch, located 30 miles north of Winnett, Montana, and comprised of 5,002 acres of private land and 41,273 acres of leased public land. The organization’s 26th land deal brings the total number of deeded and leased acres stewarded by the organization to more than 399,000.

American Prairie Reserve is a nonprofit working to knit together nearly 3 million acres of existing public land by purchasing roughly 500,000 private acres around and within the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in northeastern

Montana. Once complete, the Reserve will be the largest park in the continental United States and home to all the wildlife that once lived on the Great Plains. For more than a decade, visitors to the Reserve have enjoyed camping, hiking, biking, birding, wildlife viewing, hunting and more. American Prairie Reserve will expand its recreational offerings with the opening of the first two huts, located on the PN in Fergus County, in an eventual 200-mile wide hut-to-hut system, as well as a campground along highway 191 in southern Philips County, next spring.

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American Prairie Reserve current property map

Home to a resident elk herd, the grass- and pine-laden Two Crow shares a nine-mile border the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (CMR). American Prairie Reserve CEO Sean Gerrity says the organization was drawn to the opportunity to purchase the Two Crow thanks to its strategic location and abundance of wildlife.

“The Two Crow represents an incredible chance to permanently conserve key habitat in the region’s wildlife corridors,” Gerrity says. “Because the Two Crow shares a substantial border with the Refuge, this purchase will provide wildlife in the CMR with additional habitat and provide additional opportunities for recreation.”

Gerrity says the unit’s recreation policies will be determined by the organization over the next year, with the goal of welcoming the public onto the Reserve’s deeded acres in a safe and open way. In addition, he notes, the public lands contained within the Two Crow are and will forever remain open to the public.

“We look forward to evaluating the recreation opportunities of this new area and sharing more about our plans in the near future,” Gerrity adds.

He also notes the significant drought and wildfires affecting Central and Eastern Montana, adding how heartening it has been to see neighbors, towns and counties banding together, and support coming in from across the country for affected communities.

“We look forward to being good neighbors in Petroleum County,” he adds.

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About American Prairie Reserve American Prairie Reserve’s mission is to create the largest nature reserve in the continental United States, a spectacular refuge for people and wildlife preserved forever as part of America’s heritage. When complete, the Reserve will be larger than Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks combined and will support all the animals that historically called the Great Plains home. Learn more at americanprairie.org