The Scapegoat Wilderness consists of 239,936 acres (971 km²) spread across three different

National Forests A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign state, sovereign or federated state, or territory (country subdivision), territory. Background The precise application of the terms va ...

in the U.S. state of Montana. Created by an act of Congress in 1972, the wilderness is located in

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer *Helena, mother of Constantine I Places Greece * Helena (island) Guyana * ...

and Lolo National Forests. The Scapegoat Wilderness is a part of the 1.5 million acre (6,070 km²) Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex as it shares a boundary with the Bob Marshall Wilderness, which in turn is connected to the Great Bear Wilderness further north. U.S. Wilderness Areas do not allow motorized or mechanized vehicles, including

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

s. Although camping and fishing are allowed with proper permit, no roads or buildings are constructed and there is also no

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

or mining, in compliance with the 1964 Wilderness Act. Wilderness areas within National Forests and

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

areas also allow

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

in season. The

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

creates the western boundary of the wilderness. Rising as much as in places, the

Chinese Wall A Chinese wall or ethical wall is an information barrier protocol within an organization designed to prevent exchange of information or communication that could lead to conflicts of interest. For example, a Chinese wall may be established to sepa ...

, a portion of the expansive Rocky Mountain Front, stretches a distance of through the wilderness. With elevations between or more above sea level, the wilderness lies just west of the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

, and from the higher mountaintops the views to the east extend for . The highest peak in the wilderness is Red Mountain . The Continental Divide Trail travels through the wilderness roughly north to south. With most of the wilderness heavily forested in

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

s, the primary tree species found include Engelmann spruce, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine and

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

. The wolf and grizzly call the wilderness home as do black bears, moose, elk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep and mule deer. Rare sightings of wolverine and mountain lions are possible along with

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falco ...

s, trumpeter swans and

pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...

s. Eight species of fish inhabit the lakes and streams with

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

and northern pike being the most common game fish. Fourteen lakes are located in the wilderness as well as the headwaters of the Blackfoot River. Considered an excellent backpacking region, there are over of trails which generally follow the numerous streams and rivers. Pack trips on

horseback Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

are also a popular mode of travel. Bugle Mountain (9194203902)

Located about northeast of Missoula, Montana, the best access is from forest service roads off

U.S. Highway 287 U.S. Route 287 (US 287) is a north–south (physically northwest–southeast) United States highway. At long, it is the second longest three-digit U.S. Route, behind US 281. It serves as the major truck route between Fort Worth and Ama ...

and Montana highways 200 and 83. Bugle Mountain (also known as "Bugle Peak"), located in the Scapegoat Wilderness, was the setting of a forest fire in the fictional 1952 motion picture ''

Red Skies of Montana ''Red Skies of Montana'' is a 1952 adventure drama film in which Richard Widmark stars as a smokejumper who attempts to save his crew while being overrun by a forest fire, not only to preserve their lives, but to redeem himself after being the o ...

''. The film, based in part on the tragic 1949 Mann Gulch fire, was filmed in Montana.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control IUCN Category Ib Protected areas of Lewis and Clark County, Montana Protected areas of Powell County, Montana Wilderness areas of Montana Lolo National Forest Helena National Forest Lewis and Clark National Forest 1972 establishments in Montana Protected areas established in 1972

See also

References

External links