Missouri River Cottonwood Bottom (panorama)

A fantastic sunset glows over the Missouri River on a colorful fall morning in Montana’s Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. Locally known at the CMR, the refuge encompasses an area of 1.1 million acres that span about 125 air miles from the Fort Peck Dam west to the boundary with the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. The area is known for its expansive badlands, cottonwood river bottoms, forested coulees, sagebrush steppes and mixed-grass prairies. The refuge was named in recognition of this colorful western artist who often portrayed the refuge’s landscape in his paintings and whose conservation ethic was years ahead of his time.