View of the Rocky Mountain Front from the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch.

In 1887, Theodore Roosevelt founded the Boone and Crockett Club. The Club continues to focus on the goals of its founder by supporting programs designed to conserve our country's natural wildlife resources. In Theodore Roosevelt's 1907 Message to Congress, he challenged the nation to "increase the usefulness" of land because it was the key to prosperity of future generations.

As the Club's centennial project, the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch on the east front of the Rocky Mountains was purchased. This 6,500-acre property lies in the foothills of the east slope of the Rocky Mountains near Dupuyer, Montana.

The property abuts thousands of acres of national forest and wilderness areas and contains critical winter habitat for elk and mule deer. Additionally, whitetail deer, cougar, and grizzly and black bears regularly use this property and bighorn sheep and Rocky Mountain goats occur in adjacent national forest lands. This unique environment offers the perfect laboratory to study the coexistence of agricultural land uses and wildlife for research purposes.

As wildlife habitat shrinks due to increasing and conflicting land uses, we must find ways to make wildlife, agriculture, and other commercial development needs more compatible. Therein lies the great opportunity to "increase the usefulness."

• Wildlife habitat must be maintained and improved on both private and public lands. Without suitable habitat, many wildlife species may decrease in number or disappear.
• Hard, practical, realistic research must be done to develop techniques and methods for reducing competition between the demands of wildlife and those of agriculture and other land uses.
• Information must be disseminated to inform the public about new methods and techniques of land use management in order to influence wise management of our vital land and wildlife resources.
• This integrated management must all help protect the rich and vital heritage of agriculture and private land owners in our rural communities.

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The Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch

To stimulate private sector leadership on wildlife research, education, and management, the Boone and Crockett Club purchased a working cattle ranch in prime wildlife habitat along Dupuyer Creek on the East Front of the Montana Rockies. The mission of the ranch, known as the TRM Ranch, is research, teaching, and demonstration of integrated livestock/wildlife conservation that is integral to the economic viability of private and adjacent public lands. The Club is also interested in maintaining and enhancing the stewardship roles of rural families who make their living through shared uses and management of natural resources and thus helping to conserve the natural wealth of our nation.

The ranch property is enrolled in the Montana's Block Management Program to offer public hunting opportunities. It is important to note that Club members cannot hunt on the TRM Ranch.

At the TRM Ranch, the Club conducts habitat research and demonstrates innovative land management practices, as well as conservation education programs. These activities are linked to a program of graduate scholarships directed by the Boone and Crockett Professor of Wildlife Conservation at the University of Montana. 

Available to the public is our Watchable Wildlife Trail, constructed in 1995.

Director to the Center

Going North on US-89, take the first left as you enter the town of Dupuyer (Dupuyer Creek Road). Continue for eight miles until you reach a fork in the road. Take a left and travel less than a mile until you see the TRM Ranch/RWCC sign with an arrow and turn right. After you pass the TRM Ranch main entrance, stay left and drive past the upper ranch house and continue on to the Center.

Do not use Google Maps! You will end up at Heart Butte, Montana.