The west of the Charles M. Russell Nat. Wildlife Refuge, managed from the Sand Creek Wildlife Stations, provides a unique representation of the rugged Missouri River Breaks and adjacent sagebrush grassland. The landscape is little changed from the time when the Lewis and Clark Expedition came up the valley in 1804. The Breaks (deep canyons) formed when the river was forced into a new channel by glaciers during the Ice Age. The steep, rapidly eroding canyons resulted in sites favorable to the establishment of Douglas fir, ponderosa pine Rocky Mountain juniper.
Mule and white-tailed deer, elk, pronghorn, coyote, bobcat, prairie dogs, raptors and grouse are common. Big horn sheep inhabit remote buttes and cliffs and occasionally the tracks of mountain lion can be seen in the mud or snow.
Fishing is popular in the Fort Peck Reservoir. The refuge is open year round, but mostly unimproved roads makes travel inadvisable during winter and after rain. Located 19 miles north of the intersection of highways 191 and 19.