Roadside bighorns.Nothing stops traffic like a 200-pound, full-curl bighorn Bighorn, river, United States Bighorn, river, 461 mi (741 km) long, formed in W central Wyo. by the confluence of the Wind and Pop Agie rivers and flowing north to join the Yellowstone River in S Mont. ram. And that's exactly what happens at's exactly what happens along Montana Highway 200 when bighorn sheep Bighorn sheep a tall (up to 3 ft), heavy (up to 300 lb body weight) wild sheep that lives in inaccessible mountain country where it exercises its principal achievement of prodigious leaping and climbing. Called also Ovis canadensis. Several regional varieties, e.g. O. c. drop down from the steep, rocky mountain slopes to feed in the alfalfa alfalfa (ălfăl`fə) or lucern (l  sûn`), perennial leguminous plant (Medicago sativa fields in the Clark Fork Clark ForkRiver, Montana and Idaho, U.S. Rising near Butte, Mont., it flows in an irregular course for about 300 mi (480 km) to enter Pend Oreille Lake in northern Idaho. valley. Between Plains and Thompson Falls Thompson Falls can refer to:
River, southwestern Canada and northwestern U.S. Rising in the Canadian Rockies, it flows through Washington state, entering the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Ore.; it has a total length of 1,240 mi (2,000 km). and crosses the home of one of Montana's largest bighorn herds. Along with spectacular scenery, the river valley offers all the essentials that make for perfect bighorn habitat: steep cliffs for protection from predators, south-facing slopes that stay free of snow in the winter, and open, grassy hillsides. As idyllic as this sounds, the sheep posed a serious traffic problem. To solve it, individuals from federal, state, and local agencies and organizations got together to find a way to permit the public to continue viewing the sheep while keeping traffic flowing safely. The solution? A wildlife viewing area and interpretive site-created by volunteers. A state highway patrolman who had spent considerable time breaking up bighorn-caused traffic jams spearheaded the project, with support from the rangers of the Plains/Thompson Falls district in Lolo National Forest Lolo National Forest is located in western Montana, United States with the western boundary being the state of Idaho. The forest spans 2 million acres (8,000 km²) and includes four wilderness areas; the Scapegoat and the Bob Marshall Wilderness are partially within the forest . More than 15 cooperators chipped in materials, labor, and equipment to make the solution a reality. The county provided fill material, the state highway department paved the pullout pull·out n. 1. A withdrawal, especially of troops. 2. Change from a dive to level flight. Used of an aircraft. 3. An object designed to be pulled out. Noun 1. , a local nursery donated plants for landscaping, timber companies provided building materials, volunteers from two sportsmen's organizations donated time along with the state fish-and-game department, and a high-school shop class built a rail log fence to keep visitors out of the field and sheep off the pullout. Although most of the bighorn habitat falls on national forest lands, the property along the highway is privately owned. Buz and Les Hodges, landowners who generously share their fields with the bighorns, donated the land for the viewing area. The national forest supplied interpretive signs that describe bighorn biology and habitat. The signs are beautifully illustrated by Craig Phillips, a local wildlife artist who donated his artwork. If you get the chance to travel Highway 200 in western Montana, pull off the road at the Kookoosint Bighorn Sheep Viewing Area. Stretch your legs, learn about bighorn sheep, and, if you time it right, look for a full-curl ram peacefully munching alfalfa. |
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