The Blackfoot River corridor extends 26 miles along the Blackfoot River from Johnsrud Park to the Russel Gates recreation area and is managed cooperatively by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Bureau of Land Management, with agencies working with private landowners in the upper half to allow public access along much of the shoreline. The Blackfoot River meanders 132 miles from the Continental Divide to its confluence with the Clark Fork River near Missoula, and its valley was greatly altered more than 12,000 years ago by glaciers from the mountains of what is now the Bob Marshal Wilderness Complex. Known to the Nez Perce as Cokahlarishkit, or river of the road to buffalo, the route along the Blackfoot River was a deeply worn trail used by Salish, Nez Perce, and Shoshone families crossing the Divide in summer and fall to hunt buffalo on the plains of what is now central Montana, gathering meat, hides, camas roots, and chert along the way. In July 1806, Captain Meriwether Lewis and nine of his men followed this trail along the Blackfoot River on their return from the Pacific Ocean, staying on guard because their Nez Perce guides feared hostile tribes and because Lewis found abandoned camps and fresh horse tracks; traveling through this area, the party covered 31 miles on horseback in a day. In October 1991, a hot wildfire burned through the area, leaving visible remnants on the surrounding hillsides and changing vegetation in ways that increased forage, soil nutrients, and new plant growth but also opened burned land to noxious weeds. To speed recovery of lost animal habitat, resource managers planted conifer seedlings, treated weeds with chemicals and biological organisms, and closed or restricted roads to limit weed spread, reduce disturbance of deer and elk, and lessen soil erosion, helping return habitat to more favorable condition. Forested hills beside the river attract elk, mule deer, and white-tail deer, and fire periodically changes this habitat in ways that can either benefit these animals or force them to move elsewhere.