Rising in extreme northeast Wyoming, near Devils Tower, the Little Missouri River flows northeastward across southeast Montana and the western Dakotas (paralleling the Yellowstone River for most of its route) before entering the Missouri River within Lake Sakakawea. Like other rivers of the Missouri Plateau, it cuts through soft (relatively young) Tertiary sediments to produce badlands within the surrounding prairie.
In the North Dakota section of its watershed, Theodore Roosevelt National Park protects several areas of those badlands, commemorating Roosevelt's conservation achievements and enveloping the site of his Elkhorn Ranch, which he established in the 1880s; the Park, itself, was set aside in 1947. The colorful and ever-changing cliffs, domes, mesas and buttes of the badlands are adorned with stands of juniper, while wetlands, meadows and groves of cottonwood cover the valley floors. Bison, elk, bighorn sheep and pronghorn, once extirpated by overhunting, have all been reintroduced and both mule and white-tailed deer inhabit the Little Missouri Valley.
Father of the U.S. Forest Service, Theodore Roosevelt created five National Parks, 15 National Monuments and 150 National Forests during his Presidency. Contrast those achievements with the negative environmental impacts of the Trump Administration!
In the North Dakota section of its watershed, Theodore Roosevelt National Park protects several areas of those badlands, commemorating Roosevelt's conservation achievements and enveloping the site of his Elkhorn Ranch, which he established in the 1880s; the Park, itself, was set aside in 1947. The colorful and ever-changing cliffs, domes, mesas and buttes of the badlands are adorned with stands of juniper, while wetlands, meadows and groves of cottonwood cover the valley floors. Bison, elk, bighorn sheep and pronghorn, once extirpated by overhunting, have all been reintroduced and both mule and white-tailed deer inhabit the Little Missouri Valley.
Father of the U.S. Forest Service, Theodore Roosevelt created five National Parks, 15 National Monuments and 150 National Forests during his Presidency. Contrast those achievements with the negative environmental impacts of the Trump Administration!
