LEWISTOWN, Mont. — Modern explorers can eventually camp where Lewis and Clark spent a night in 1805 if Montana approves a 109-acre parcel of land for a new state park.
If so, it would be Montana’s 56th state park.
Located at the confluence of the Judith and Missouri rivers in north-central Montana, the land is north of the small ranching community of Winifred and about 60 miles northwest of Lewistown.
A new state park would be the latest chapter of a legacy for an area that’s been home to buffalo hunting, treaty signings, trading posts, a military fort, a notable dinosaur fossil discovery and a cattle ranch.
“It’s a really cool site because it’s very, very rich with Indigenous history, as well as pivotal history for Montana,” said Megan Buecking, executive director of the Montana State Parks Foundation.
Last month, the foundation was gifted the land by the nonprofit American Prairie group for the sole purpose of passing it along to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to establish a state park.
Buecking said she’s confident the state will approve a park after concluding its environmental impact assessment. The Montana State Parks and Recreation Board is scheduled to meet Dec. 20 to discuss the state’s acquisition of the land.
Ahead of that, Buecking is urging Montanans to chime in with their support by a Dec. 14 public comment deadline.
Storied History
Even before changing hands this year, the 109-acre parcel has been open to the public since Bozeman-based American Prairie bought the 50,000-acre PN Ranch in 2016.
Though the exact terms of that sale weren’t disclosed, the cattle ranch was initially listed in 2014 for $18 million and was co-owned at that time by the late billionaire Whitney MacMillan, who spent about 20 years as CEO of his family’s business, Cargill Inc.
In addition to opening up the area for recreation, a state park would be an opportunity to celebrate the area’s cultural significance to many tribes and its more modern ranching heritage, while protecting the habitat of 60-plus species that include bighorn sheep, Buecking said.
“It’s a place of real significance,” added Pete Geddes, chief external relations officer for American Prairie.
It’s also a place where the land conservation organization has planted its stake.
In 2022, it opened the National Discovery Center in downtown Lewistown in the historic Power Mercantile building, once owned by Senator T.C. Power who established the PN Ranch — short for Power-Norris — with Gilman Norris, who ran a trading post on the Judith River.
Preserving The Past
Getting the land in the state’s hands reflects American Prairie’s commitment of increasing public access to public lands, Geddes said.
There’s also a practical reason behind the land swap: Structures there have required stabilization work that doesn’t align with the organization’s long-term conservation goals.
An 1900s-era home has been damaged in recent years by a surrounding grove of cottonwood trees.
“One of the reasons we sought to transfer the land is because historic preservation is not in our mission,” Geddes said. “It will be in much better custody in the state’s hands.”
Geddes said he hopes a future state park might resemble something like Bannack State Park near Dillon, or Fort Owen State Park near Stevensville.
Both parks have historical structures that have been preserved, while the land’s significance has been “interpreted really skillfully,” he said.
Approval Process
But a state park will take time.
In its assessment, Montana FWP described the current buildings as “dilapidated” and “unsafe,” and said it plans to request funds in the 2025 legislative session to hire an architect to conduct a condition assessment of the structures.
What’s more, it estimates that initial development of a park won’t happen until at least 2026 or 2027.
While the land is now out of American Prairie’s hands, the organization has faced strong opposition from some Montana Republicans, notably Gov. Greg Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen.
Earlier this year, the state and a group of ranchers failed for a second time to stop the nonprofit from allowing bison to graze on public lands it leases, which the Bureau of Land Management authorized back in 2022.
Gianforte last week announced a shakeup at Montana FWP, moving Christy Clark to lead the agency from her role as director of the Montana Department of Agriculture.
The last time Montana FWP acquired land for a state park was in 2021, for what’s now Somers State Park on the northern shores of Flathead Lake, only 10 miles from another state park.
By comparison, it’s about 70 miles to the closest state park from the proposed site near Lewistown in the central part of the state. Adding a state park to this area would be significant because there are so few, Buecking said.
“It would provide a really cool recreational opportunity and economic driver for local communities,” she said. “It’s a very interesting place for us to work to preserve.”
