Flooding is happening all over in Montana right now, and it is impacting wildlife too. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesperson Vivaca Crowser says a local Wildlife Management Area won’t be opening this month to the public as usual.

“We have kind of a unique situation this year because of all the snow, flooding and wet roads up the Blackfoot,” Crowser said. “At the Blackfoot Clearwater Wildlife Management Area we have the traditional May 15th opening and we are delaying that until June 1st.”

Crowser says FWP hopes to give the animals more time to transition through a wet spring.

“A lot of those roads are under a lot of standing water, they are extremely wet and there is still a lot of snow up there,” Crowser said. “There is concern both for the damage of vehicle and foot traffic on the wildlife management area, but there is also concern for the wildlife. They are still there using that winter range.”

The Blackfoot Clearwater Wildlife Management Area is a winter range for elk and is managed similar to the WMA on top of Mount Jumbo.

 

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