The Upper Missouri Coteau Focus Area is located in the extreme northeastern corner of the state. Its boundaries are formed by the Canadian border, the state line between North Dakota and Montana, the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, and Missouri River. The Focus Area includes Sheridan, Roosevelt, and Daniels Counties.

This tri-county area was entirely glaciated and is a continuation of the Prairie Pothole Region of the Dakotas. The northern portions of the Focus Area have terrain common to the glacial Missouri Coteau, a very hilly landscape dotted with numerous shallow wetlands.

Native vegetation is of the mixed-grass prairie type. The area lies in the transition zone between the tall-grass prairie to the east and the short-grass prairie of central Montana. Cool season grasses predominate with scattered shrub communities. Intact wetland-grassland complexes are interspersed with intensively farmed areas.   Many of the intact wetland-grassland tracts are privately owned.

The climate is typical of the northern Great Plains, with warm summers, cold winters, and marked variation in seasonal precipitation, which averages 12 to 15 inches per year. Temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and drop to minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit in winter.

The Focus Area includes Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge with a total of 31,660 acres of open water, marsh, and upland acres and 43 Waterfowl Production Areas (WPAs) totaling 11,772 acres. The WPA's vary in size from 4 acres to 2,012 acres. An additional 18,592 acres of privately owned wetlands and uplands are protected with perpetual conservation easements. The potential for protecting additional wetland-grassland habitat with easements is high.

For Information, Contact: Tim Connolly Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge 223 North Shore Road Medicine Lake, MT 59247 (406) 789-2305 tim_connolly@fws.gov