Distinctly Montana Magazine

Sagebrush and River A IN THE CHARLES M. RUSSELL NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE BY CATHY MOSER cut by a mountain lion (Puma Concolor). They agree the tracks belong to a cat they haven't previously collared, so the hounds' handler releases the dogs that will scent and chase the lion until it trees. The cat is tranquilized with a dart, and the appointed "climber-of-the-day" ascends the tree. He secures the cat with ropes and carefully lowers it to the ground. The team records the age, weight, and sex. Most important, the female lion is fitted with a GPS collar that will record her location every five hours for 12 months. The immobilizing chemicals are reversed, and when she's no longer groggy, she strides into the rocky folds of the breaks. The cats living in this Northern Great Plains ecosystem are a bit of an enigma as they have been little studied. The purpose of an extensive mountain lion research project undertaken in Montana's Garnet Mountains from 1997 to 2007 was to better under- stand the behavior of a hunted lion population that inhabit mountain forests. In 2010, lion researchers came together in the Missouri River Breaks, a part of the 1.1-million acre Charles M. Russell National Wild- life Refuge (CMR) in north central Montana, to study the nonhunted population of "sagebrush" and "river" cats traversing native grasslands, sagebrush flats, river bot- toms, and coulees studded with pine and juniper. It is a cooperative effort with representatives from the CMR, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the leader is from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), project coordinator Randy Matchett. Earlier members included representatives from the World Wildlife Fund and the Chippewa Cree Tribal Wildlife Program. top a snow-covered ridge in the Missouri River Beaks, a team of researchers kneels to examine a set of four-toed and clawless tracks Lions are notoriously elusive, 16 RETREATING INTO RIVER BOTTOMS, MOUNTAIN FORESTS AND OTHER WOODED AREAS WHERE THEY PREY ON DEER, ELK, AND OTHER BIG GAME ANIMALS, AS WELL AS SMALL MAMMALS, BIRDS, OCCASIONALLY HOUSE PETS, AND RARELY LIVESTOCK. DISTINCTLY MONTANA • WINTER 2013 ROBERT RATH

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