June 16th - June 30th Range Riding & Wildlife Update
As the remaining cattle entered the Valley in the second half of June, the Range Riders have been monitoring herd health, checking cameras, and helping producers as needed. Some producers have had sickness in their calves, mostly presenting as pneumonia and foot rot. Range Riders monitor herd health to minimize cattle become attractants to predators when they are ill.
There have been a few cattle deaths due to sickness, one of which was a confirmed bear depredation. Range Riders deployed game cameras on the carcasses, and captured images of wolves and bears which helps us understand what predators are in the area.
Tall larkspur, which is toxic to cattle, is beginning to bloom. The Team anticipates that it will be a shorter bloom this year considering the continued drought and high temperatures. Pastures on the Valley bottom that are typically wet and swampy are noticeably dry this year. However, like most years in the Centennial Valley, the month of June brought some snowfall to the valley floor! The storm on June 22 brought about four tenths of precipitation.
The rising temperatures and increased bug activity has pushed Range Rider and community sightings of wildlife further off the Valley floor and into higher elevations. The Team has documented deer, pronghorn antelope, and moose with their fawns/calves up and down the valley floor and surrounding hills. A FWP personnel was charged by a cow moose with her calf along Red Rock River later in the month, so please be aware of more than bears while recreating!
Black Bear tracks have been documented, as well as their likeness on stationary cameras around the Valley. Grizzly Bear tracks have been seen across the entirety of the Valley and have been caught on cameras and tracks have been seen wandering around-- so be bear aware when traveling about.
Wolves have been seen and caught candidly on camera on the north side of the Valley.
The Team and cameras cannot capture the entire Valley each day, so community reports are extremely valuable to understand how wildlife use the Valley. If you have any wildlife reports to share (big or small!), please contact the CVA at info@centennialvalleyassociation.org. We look forward to hearing from you!
***2025 content is property of the Centennial Valley Association. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without written permission. This project is made possible through a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, with support from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, in partnership with Heart of the Rockies Initiative.***