Administration Lawn
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:43 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Fort Peck USACE Administration Lawn is a lush one acre grass area, lined with mature trees that overlooks the lower Downstream area of Fort Peck. Fort Peck Dam, which impounds Fort Peck Lake is the first dam built in the upper Missouri River Basin. The area surrounding Fort Peck was first charted by Lewis and Clark in 1804, and the pristine natural condition of the river and surrounding area awed the renowned explorers. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the Fort Peck project in 1933, thousands of people from all over the country migrated to Montana during the midst of the Great Depression in hopes of earning a living. Today, Fort Peck Lake is a sportsman's paradise with excellent fishing, wildlife viewing and other countless outdoor recreation opportunities. For more information, visit the Fort Peck Project Website or call 406-526-3411. Keep reading
Recreation
The vast size of Fort Peck Lake and its remoteness from major population centers provide a variety of high quality outdoor experiences. Popular recreation activities include camping, boating, fishing, hunting, sight-seeing, picnicking, biking, hiking, photography, watching wildlife and just relaxing. Fort Peck Lake : Fifteen hundred miles of pristine shoreline serve as a haven for those wishing to get away from the stresses of modern life. There are 27 recreation areas located around the reservoir. The areas near and around the dam offer paved roads, electricity, showers and playgrounds while facilities around the rest of the lake are more primitive with gravel roads, picnic tables and vault toilets. Access roads to many of the remote areas may be impassable in inclement weather. Fishing : Fort Peck Lake enjoys nationwide recognition as a hot spot for walleye fishing. Fort Peck Lake provides excellent boating and fishing opportunities. The lake also offers excellent fishing for sauger, smallmouth bass, lake trout, chinook salmon and northern pike. The introduction of cisco as a forage fish in 1983 proved successful and has increased both the size and number of game fish. Wildlife Viewing/Hunting : The Fort Peck Lake Area and the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge provide superb hunting of deer, elk, big horn sheep, and prong horn. The Missouri River Breaks are known for producing large elk and other game animals. Trails : Three miles of paved nature trails wind along the Missouri River and through the surrounding wooded area. This trail area is a popular birding and wildlife viewing area. Disc Golf Course : A disc golf course "The Fortress" was installed in summer of 2021. Discs are available to check out at the gate house. Interpretive Center & Museum : The Fort Peck Dam Interpretive Center and Museum offers displays of wildlife dioramas, aquariums, dinosaur fossils and dam construction history. Open Friday through Monday 9am to 4pm.
Facilities
The open space of the lawn is ideal for weddings, receptions and outdoor events. Please note that utilities are not available. Please call the Natural Resource Management office at 406-526-3411 before making reservations.
Natural Features
The administration lawn is regularly watered and maintained for maximum grass health. Mature cottonwoods, green ash, hawthorne and pine trees line the lawn. Wildlife are a natural part of the area and can often be seen walking around the lawn. The east end overlooks the downstream area, Missouri River and Powerhouse structures. Nearby Attractions • Fort Peck Lake is a Montana treasure for its vast size and outdoor recreation opportunities. Six recreation areas within a few miles of the dam provide access for water sports, fishing and hunting. • The Fort Peck Interpretive Center and Museum, is located just downstream of Fort Peck Dam. For more information, call 406-526-3493. • The Leo B. Coleman Wildlife Pasture, located just outside the Town of Fort Peck and Downstream Campground is home to Fort Peck's Bison Herd and provides an excellent wildlife viewing auto route. • The Historic Fort Peck Theater is located in the town of Ft. Peck is a popular historic destination in summer months. • The 1.1 million acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge surrounds Fort Peck Lake and helps preserve the natural habitat for numerous wildlife species. • The Fort Peck State Fish Hatchery is located on Yellowstone Drive and is responsible for stocking Fort Peck Lake and other waterways with walleye, northern pike, chinook salmon and rainbow trout.
Charges & Cancellations
Reservation changes and cancellations can be made on Recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777. For more information on rules and policies regarding reservation cancellations and changes, please visit: https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies
What the agency tells you
Permission to use the Administration Lawn must be given by the Natural Resource Management Office before making a reservation. Special rules apply for using the lawn and paperwork must be filled out prior to completing reservations. Please call (406)526-3411 for more information.
The cost of the event is determined by the number in attendance. Fifty (50) people or less is $25.00 and over fifty (50) people is $50.00 per day.
All public-use of Ft. Peck Project lands and waters is governed by Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) .
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with gravel roads, picnic tables and vault toilets. Access roads to many of the remote areas may be…”
- Playground
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Beach
- Historic site
1 of 1 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:43 UTC
The agency files 1 record here and marks it day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 13
What you actually pay
“Reservation changes and cancellations can be made on Recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777. For more information on rules and policies regarding reservation cancellations and changes, please visit: https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies” · this campground’s own terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:43 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records
All 1 records
| Admin Building | Administration Lawn | day use | $50 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the agency’s directions · the phone number
The weather
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
The land, and who answers for it
a letter you can send
Who can change it · 2
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- Your senator, on the same appropriationSteve DainesU.S. Senator · Montana
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTim SheehyU.S. Senator · Montana
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Administration Lawn has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. Administration Lawn, Montana carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Administration Lawn (Montana) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Administration Lawn has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. Administration Lawn, Montana carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Administration Lawn (Montana) via campanac.com