B. PRESENT LEGAL AND OTHER STATUS 



1. State: The Montana Natural Heritage Program ranks the 

 species G3S1 (Heidel 1994). The global ranking (G3) is a 

 reflection of vulnerability due to a restricted range. 

 Within Montana, the species is considered critically 

 imperiled due to extreme rarity (SI). 



2. Federal 



a. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: 3C (UDSI Fish and 



Wildlife Service 1993); This signifies that the species 

 has "proven to be more abundant or widespread than 

 previously believed and/or ....( is) not subject to any 

 identifiable threat." 



b. Bureau of Land Management: proposed sensitive in Montana 



(USDI Bureau of Land Management 1993). 



c. U.S. Forest Service: none; However, sensitive status 



has been recommended because the species was found for 

 the first time in a National Forest, on the Beaverhead 

 in the Tendoy Mountains in 1994 (Vanderhorst 1995a). 



C. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION 



1. Species range: Astragalus scaphoides is a narrow endemic, 

 restricted to the foothills of the Bitterroot Mountains and 

 adjoining valleys in Lemhi County, Idaho and across the 

 mountains in southwestern Beaverhead County, Montana 

 (Barneby 1964) . 



2. Distribution in Montana: The species is known only from 

 southwestern Beaverhead County. There are a total of 14 

 occurrences now entered in the Biological Conservation 

 Database in the drainages of Grasshopper, Horse Prairie, and 

 Medicine Lodge creeks and the upper Beaverhead River. 



3. Occurrences in the study area: Bitterroot milkvetch was not 

 found in the study area by this project, but a population 

 was surveyed by Peter Lesica in 1983 on private land just 

 east of the park. Additional populations are known nearby 

 to the east further down the canyon of Grasshopper Creek and 

 to the south along the road to Grant. An Element Occurrence 

 Record and map showing the precise location of the 

 population just to the east of the park are given in 

 Appendix D. 



D. HABITAT 



1. Associated vegetation: In Montana, Bitterroot milkvetch 

 grows in sagebrush grasslands usually dominated by big 



