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Centennial Sandhills Preserve

Centennial Sandhills
The Centennial Sandhills
© Tana Kappel/TNC

In southwestern Montana, on the northeastern side of the vast Centennial Valley, is a unique ecological system of dynamic sandhills. The 1,400-acre preserve, nestled within a larger community of sandhills, supports four rare plant species and several uncommon plant communities.

Location
Southwestern Montana: Beaverhead County in the remote Centennial Valley. This preserve lies north of the Red Rock River and the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. This area is within 50 miles of -- and one mountain pass away from -- the western border of Yellowstone National Park.

Plants

  • Fendler's cateye Pale Evening Primrose
  • Painted milkvetch       
  • White-stemmed pale evening primrose
  • Sand wild rye
  • Basin big sage brush
  • Needle and thread grass


Animals                                                                                                                Pale Evening Primrose

  • Preble's shrew
  • Black-tailed jackrabbit
  • Great basin pocket mouse
  • Pygmy rabbit
  • Antelope
  • Many species of raptors and songbirds
  • Two species of tiger beetles

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
The Centennial sandhills are a unique ecosystem that features dune formations formed by windblown sand. Four rare plants  -- Fendler's cateye, painted milkvetch, white-stemmed pale evening primrose and sand wild rye -- as well as two species of tiger beetle documented here require these blowouts, which were historically maintained through natural disturbances, primarily fire and grazing.

The Conservancy purchased the sandhills as part of the larger 11,500-acre Staudenmeyer Ranch acquisition. Much of this land will likely be re-sold to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to become part of the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. The Conservancy decided to keep the sandhills portion because of their unique character and need for specialized management to maintain the conditions necessary for the rare plants that occur there.   

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing
Conservancy stewardship staff are inventorying the plant communities and developing a preserve management plan that is ecologically beneficial, financially viable, and helpful to advancing conservation elsewhere in the valley. Staff plan to study how prescribed burns combined with grazing affect the plants and sand formations. 

The Conservancy has worked with landowners in the greater Centennial Valley since 1998. The Conservancy helped establish a county-wide weed program and has worked with landowners on a variety of stewardship projects. Conservation easements held by the Conservancy, the Fish and Wildlife Service and other groups now protect almost 40,000 acres -- more than a third of the private land in the valley. Keeping this area free of housing development is important for maintaining the unique ranching character of the valley and protecting its unique wildlife habitat -- which supports more than 40 species of birds and waterfowl. County officials say that if housing development were to occur in this huge remote area with gravel roads and limited winter access, the cost of providing services would be extremely high.