BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comments as part of a plan to open additional parts of the remote Red Rock Lakes Wildlife Refuge to the public.

The 51,000-acre refuge in western Montana runs along the Idaho border west of West Yellowstone. Refuge manager Bill West tells The Bozeman Daily Chronicle that the federal agency bought 1,490 acres east of the refuge last summer.

Another 6,000 acres of easements surround purchased property. But West says that before the area can be opened to the public there has to be a public comment period and planning process. The addition to the refuge means that much of the headwaters used by Arctic grayling are now protected.

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