however, authorities believe its origin to be on the 

 Clearwater River in central Idaho (Hitchcock and 

 Maguire, 1947) . Populations are now known from 

 Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Also, one 

 plant was observed in British Columbia, Canada in 

 1988. 



Silene spaldingii was first collected in Montana by 

 R.S. Williams ( 995 ) in 1894. The label reads 

 "Columbia Falls." This site has been searched for, 

 but has never been relocated, and it is likely that 

 the population was lost as much of this area has 

 been converted for agricultural use. A second 

 collection by D. Lau ( 74-63 ) was made in the 

 vicinity of Niarada in 1974. This site has also 

 never been relocated (using the directions on the 

 collection label) , and the specimen is thought to be 

 mislabeled. 



In 1983, Peter Lesica, working under contract with 

 the Montana Field Office of The Nature Conservancy, 

 located a population on Wild Horse Island in 

 Flathead Lake, and three populations in the vicinity 

 of Niarada. In 1985 two additional populations were 

 located in the Tobacco Valley. These latter sites 

 are 160 miles to the north of the Wild Horse 

 Island/Niarada populations. 



In 1988, the Montana Natural Heritage Program was 

 contracted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to 

 conduct a status survey of Silene spaldingii in 

 Montana (Project Agreement No. SE-5-P-1) . Under 

 subcontract, the author conducted field surveys on 

 18-29 July, 1988 in appropriate habitats from the 

 Canadian border (Tobacco Valley) south to Arlee, 

 Montana. Two new populations were discovered along 

 the flanks of the Hog Heaven Range, ca. 5 miles east 

 of Niarada. Additionally, a small subpopulation was 

 added to the Tobacco Plains North site (008) , and 

 one plant was observed in Canada. 



E. Comments on current alternative taxonomic 



treatments: There are no known current alternative 

 taxonomic treatments. 



2. Present legal or other formal status. 



A. International: None. 



B. National. 



