U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service logo National Wildlife Refuge System Logo Celebrating a Century of Conservation
Banner graphic displaying the Fish & Wildlife Service logo, the National Wildlife Refuge System logo and the Celebrating a Century of Conservation tagline
Lee Metcalf
National Wildlife Refuge		 In the foreground, a large pond is surrounded by cattails. Reflected in the pond are the rugged Bitterroot Mountains rising high above the valley floor.
4567 Wildfowl Lane
Stevensville, MT   59870
E-mail: leemetcalf@fws.gov
Phone Number: 406-777-5552
Visit the Refuge's Web Site:
http://leemetcalf.fws.gov		 An oasis of glittering ponds and lush riparian habitat provide a fertile home for an abundance of wildlife.
Blue horizontal line
  History
Continued . . .

On September 9, 1805, the Corps of Discovery with Captain Meriwether Lewis and Williams Clark traveled through the valley looking for a western passage to the Pacific Ocean. The town of Stevensville, just south of the Refuge, was the site of St. Marys Mission, the first permanent Euro-American settlement in the state of Montana.

The introduction of agriculture came with Euro-American settlement. By the late 1800s, Euro-Americans flocked to the valley for farming, ranching, and logging. When the Refuge was established in 1963, the lands were purchased from dairy farmers using duck stamp revenues.

 
 
- Back -