Where We Are
The Centennial Valley occupies the upper Red Rock River Watershed, extending from Lima Dam and Monida Hill eastward to Red Rock Pass. It is bounded on the south by the Centennial Mountains on the Continental Divide, and on the north by the West Fork Madison and Ruby River watershed divides. The valley represents the uppermost headwaters of the Missouri River and is one of the last remaining high elevation mountain valleys in the west that remains undeveloped.
On the east side of the valley lies the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Established in the 1930s to protect trumpeter swans and waterfowl.
There are very few of us that actually live year-round in the Centennial Valley. Ranching operations move cattle to lower elevation lands outside the valley during the winter months, then trail or truck cattle into the valley in the spring and summer months. When winter begins the cattle have moved back to lower elevations.
The Dillon Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management and the Montana Department of State Lands manage public lands that are intermingled with private lands throughout the valley.
The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, headquartered in Dillon, manages lands in the Gravelly Range north of the valley, and at Red Rock Pass.