Lewis and Clark National Forest is located in west central Montana, United States. Spanning , the forest is managed as two separate zones. The eastern sections, under the Jefferson Division, is a mixture of grass and shrublands dotted with "island" pockets of forested areas. Here, cattle leases to local ranchers as well as timber harvesting are the norm. The western Rocky Mountain Division which straddles the Continental divide, is more oriented more towards preservation, primarily because much of the land has been designated as wilderness. Forest headquarters are located in Great Falls, Montana. There are local ranger district offices in Choteau, Harlowton, Neihart, Stanford, and White Sulphur Springs. The forest lands were originally created in 1897 which makes this forest one of the oldest forest preserves in the U.S. The forest is named in honor of the members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which passed through the forest between 1804 and 1806. Prior to that the region was inhabited by Indians for a period of at least 8,000 years and when the expedition first came to the area, the Blackfeet, Sioux, Cheyenne, Flathead and Crow Indians all utilized the forest for hunting and as protection from the winter.