Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge
| Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge | |
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IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
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| Location | Montana, USA |
| Nearest city | Billings, MT |
| Coordinates | 47°41′N 107°11′W / 47.683°N 107.183°WCoordinates: 47°41′N 107°11′W / 47.683°N 107.183°W |
| Area | 915,814 acres (3,706.17 km2) |
| Established | 1936 |
| Visitors | 250,000 (in 2010) |
| Governing body | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
| Website | Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge |
The Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (abbreviated as the CMR NWR) is a National Wildlife Refuge located in the U.S. state of Montana. The refuge surrounds Fort Peck Reservoir and is 915,814 acres (3,706.17 km2) in size. It is the second-largest National Wildlife Refuge in the lower 48 states of the United States, and the largest in Montana. Created in 1936, it was originally called the Fort Peck Game Range. It was renamed in 1963 after Montana artist Charles M. Russell, a famous painter of the American West. In 1976, the "range" was made a "refuge" (which legally changed the way the area was managed).
The establishment of the Russell National Wildlife Refuge is closely tied to the construction of Fort Peck Dam. The lower Missouri River had long been used for commerce, but commercial ships largely stopped using the upper portion of the river after the railroads pushed west in the 1880s. Extensive flooding in the lower part of the river in 1903 and a push for development of the upper portion by the states of South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana in the 1920s led the federal government to consider building large dams on the Missouri. The dams would not only generate electricity for use by railroads and industry, but they would aid in flood prevention and create large reservoirs which could be used for commercial traffic. With the onset of the Great Depression in October 1929, unemployment became a severe problem in Montana. The Franklin D. Roosevelt administration saw dam building as a way of providing unemployment relief. On December 12, 1933, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6491, which turned federal land over to the United States Army Corps of Engineers for the construction of the Fort Peck Dam. Additional lands were turned over to the Corps on May 8, 1934 (Executive Order 6707), September 11, 1934 (Executive Order 6841), and April 3, 1936 (Executive Order 7331).
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