Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range

Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/herd-management-area/montana-dakotas/pryor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pryor_Mountains_Wild_Horse_Range The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range is a refuge for a historically significant herd of free-roaming mustangs, the Pryor Mountain mustang, feral horses colloquially called "wild horses", located in the Pryor Mountains of Montana and Wyoming. About a quarter of the refuge lies within the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.

( ! PRYOR MOUNTAIN WILD HORSE RANGE Photo by BLM ( ! Rockvale 310 ( ! Billings 37 ¬ « Forest Service Beartooth Ranger District HC49 Box 3420 Red Lodge, MT 59068 (406) 446-2103 Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area Visitor Center 20 Highway 14A East Lovell, WY 82431 (307) 548-2251 90 § ¨ ¦ ! Sage Creek Campground Warren Lovell ALT 14 £ ¤ Bureau of Land Management Billings Field Office 5001 Southgate Drive Billings, MT 59101 (406) 896-5013 Laurel ( ! ( ! Cowley ( ! Billings Field Office BLM 31 36 36 31 1 6 Forest Service $+ Entrance 6 1 6 Krueger Pond Kruegers 10 18 j Mystic Reservoir j Pen's 19 10 T 8 S # Historic Horse Trap Historic # Horse Trap Area Q 31 36 36 31 31 1017 Cheyenne Flat 61 03 0 1 1 6 6 1022 5 103 Sykes Ridge 1018 1021 Big Coulee 34 10 Burnt Timber Ridge Mustang Flat T 9 S Historic Horse # Trap Burnt Timber $+ Entrance 16 10 Turkey Flat 31 36 31 31 36 1015 6 1 Britton Springs (Admin Site) Sykes Ridge Entrance " Cottonwood Spring & Historic Horse Trap Co un ty R Historic Traps j Cabins $ + T 58 N oa d 36 31 36 31 1 6 1 6 PMWHR Boundary # $ + 37 R95W PMWHR Entrance Township/Range Lines State Boundary Bureau of Land Management (BLM) BLM/MT/GI-97/012+1060 Rev. 2011 Custer National Forest (USFS) Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (NPS) Crow Reservation State Land Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range North Dakota Montana " PMWH Range South Dakota Wyoming No warranty is made by the BLM as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of this data for individual use or aggregate use with other data. May 2011 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: ( ! Bridger £ ¤ WYOMING MONTANA Vicinity Map United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Billings Field Office 5001 Southgate Drive Billings, Montana 59101 36 R29E R28E R27E PRYOR MOUNTAIN WILD HORSE RANGE The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range (PMWHR) straddles the Montana/Wyoming border on the far southeast side of the Pryor Mountains. It was established after a two-year grassroots effort by citizens concerned about the long-term welfare of the wild horses in the Pryor Mountains. In 1968, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall set aside about 32,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and National Park Service (NPS) Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area lands for protection and management of wild horses, wildlife, watershed, recreation, archeological, and scenic values. In 1969, the Secretary added about 6,000 acres in Wyoming to the PMWHR through an additional order. The Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 directed the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to manage wild horses “where presently found.” Additional BLM lands and United States Forest Service (USFS) lands (Management Area Q) were added to the wild horse range due to the presence of wild horses at the passage of the act. Today, the PMWHR encompasses approximately 39,000 acres of BLM, NPS, USFS, and private lands. Pen’s Meadow The Pryor Mountains are unique in many ways. Some of the more notable aspects are the precipitation zones and related vegetation from the south end in the Bighorn Basin to the highest elevations in the mountain range. The mountain range divides the Great Plains from the Bighorn Basin. Annual rainfall varies from less than six inches in the lowest elevations to more than 20 inches in the high country. This results in a confluence of ecotypes in a small area. Because of this, many species of locally rare and sensitive plants occur in the Pryor Mountains, especially at the lower elevations. Pryor Mountain wild horse Photo by Gary Leppart and bunchgrasses to subalpine fir trees and meadows. Between these zones is a gradation of plant species dominated by sagebrush, juniper, and inland Douglas fir. GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS TELL AN INTERESTING STORY The geology of the Pryor Mountains reads like a good biography. The rocks themselves tell a story that spans from 550 million years to around 100 million years ago. The first chapters describe an ancient sea filled with aquatic animals and plants. Through time, the extent and depth of the sea changed. Occasionally, uplift of the land eliminated the sea, causing erosion of the rocks and sediments. Layers of different rock types and their fossils provide evidence of how the environment changed. The Pryor Mountains are a limestone formation mountain range named after Sergeant Nathaniel Pryor of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which traversed the nearby Yellowstone River Valley in 1806. The Pryor Mountain Range is actually an extension of the Bighorn Mountains but is separated from rest of the Bighorns by the Bighorn Canyon. Turkey Flat The Crow Tribe considers many sites within the Pryors sacred. Hard stone deposits, called chert, are common in the Pryors. Native Americans used nodules from these deposits to make projectile points and scraping tools. Cultural resource