American Prairie Announces New Acquisitions

American Prairie announced last week it has acquired the Anchor Ranch, its second-largest land purchase to date, and it has reopened access to nearly 50,000 acres of public land in “a special area of the Breaks.”

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure an important piece of ecologically and culturally significant land,” said American Prairie CEO Alison Fox in a statement. “But this acquisition is equally important as a way to return public access to the people so they can explore, hunt and recreate on land that’s been off limits for many years.”

American Prairie launched in 2001 with a mission to ensure 3.2 million acres of prairie are protected, including roughly half that are already part of the Charlie M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.

“But it’s important to point out that the majority of that would be — is — public land,” said American Prairie public relations manager Beth Saboe.

The new land comprises the Anchor Ranch and two additional properties in Blaine County, and it puts the total acreage American Prairie manages at 600,000, according to a news release announcing the acquisitions.

Anchor Ranch is 69 miles southwest of Havre and totals 67,960 acres, including 22,837 acres of deeded land and 45,123 of leased acres, “significantly advancing the organization’s mission of prairie ecosystem conservation,” American Prairie said.

It also opens up access to land previously tied up in a legal dispute along with Bullwhacker Road, which the Public Land Water Access Association described as “the only reasonable access” to acreage in the Breaks.

But a judge found the road was private in 2011.

In 2012, the billionaire Wilks brothers, among the largest land owners in Montana, bought the ranch. It was caught up in a controversial negotiation with the Bureau of Land Management, then put on the market again in 2022, according to a timeline from Lee Enterprises.

In its announcement about the new properties, American Prairie said a 3.8 mile section of Bullwhacker Road will be open to the public, providing access to nearly 50,000 acres of public land that have been a point of dispute and embroiled in lawsuits for years.

In a statement, Fox said the organization is proud to provide more permanent access to “this special area of the Breaks.”

“While we will take some time to develop a comprehensive public access plan for this new property, the previously private stretch of Bullwhacker Road is now officially open to the public,” Fox said.

Randy Newberg, founder of Fresh Tracks and Hunt Talk media, also praised the acquisition, especially for hunters.

“This is a win for anyone who cares about public access to our shared lands,” said Newberg in a statement provided by American Prairie. “Our audience cares deeply about the Bullwhacker Allotment as it touts exceptional habitat and opportunities to hunt. It’s an area that’s both important to protect and for the public to access.”

American Prairie has been controversial in Montana.

Some farmers and ranchers have opposed its purchases of land as detrimental to agriculture and beef production. Political leaders, including Gov. Greg Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen, have opposed grazing by bison, reintroduced there in 2020 after being gone for 120 years, according to American Prairie.

But some former critics have started coming around, Saboe said. She pointed to an online forum where hunters are active, and one poster recently said they used to be on the “Save the Cowboy” side but appreciate the public access from American Prairie — and time will tell.

American Prairie broke a visitation record in 2024 for the seventh year in a row, the news release said. It saw 6,600 overnight visitors and more than 5,000 at its National Discovery Center in Lewistown.

In 2024, 56.6 percent of the bookings were from Montanans, but people from every state besides five — Hawaii, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Louisiana and West Virginia — were in the books, Saboe said.

One group came from Germany, many come from Washington and California, and many also visit from the Midwest, Saboe said.

Prairie land takes a long time to restore, but American Prairie sees signs of ecological hardiness, Saboe said.

The bison herd is healthy; cameras have caught images of rarely seen animals, such as badgers; and swift foxes, reintroduced on the bordering Fort Belknap Indian Community, are migrating onto American Prairie public lands, Saboe said.

Next month, American Prairie marks its 20th year of having bison, and Saboe said it’s a big milestone. She also said the animals are doing their jobs, living their lives in a way that supports other creatures.

They graze at varying levels, giving the prairie “a bad haircut,” but one that allows a large variety of birds to nest and find protection, Saboe said. She said migrating birds can spend as much as a month on a prairie stopover in the midst of their long trips.

The bison also wallow, or roll around in the dirt, and the depressions they create often fill with water and help insects, frogs and other amphibians thrive and reproduce, Saboe said. They also offer drinking water for birds.

The news release said American Prairie acquired 1,888 deeded acres adjacent to the south side of Anchor ranch. And in a third and separate transaction in the Cow Creek basin of Blaine County, the organization acquired an additional 5,401 acres.

“This property is located in the northern portion of the Breaks and extends American Prairie’s shared fenceline with the Fort Belknap Indian Community,” the news release said.

These three acquisitions bring American Prairie’s total habitat base to 603,657 acres, which comprises 167,070 deeded acres and 436,587 leased public acres.

In the news release, American Prairie said the new properties offer important wildlife habitat for elk, deer, pronghorn and upland birds, and they provide connectivity through the Monument to the CMR and north to the Bears Paw and Little Rockies ranges.

American Prairie said it intends to share a more detailed public access plan in the future to detail recreational uses on the new deeded acres, although it will first take time to familiarize itself with the land.

On both the Anchor Ranch and the 5,401-acre property with public grazing leases, the ranching families who lease the properties will remain in place, and the land will continue to be used for agricultural production, the news release said.

“We are really pleased to have the existing lessees stay on the ground where their cattle have been grazing, and we look forward to working with these ranching families,” Fox said in a statement.