INTRODUCTION 



In the past several years, the Montana Natural Heritage 

 Program has conducted extensive surveys for rare and sensitive 

 plants on public lands in Beaverhead County and elsewhere in the 

 state. Based on these surveys, previous herbarium collections, 

 publications, and reports, the program maintains a list of 

 Montana plant species of special concern (Heidel 1994). These 

 are plants which are "known or suspected to be rare, endemic, 

 disjunct, threatened, or endangered throughout their range or in 

 Montana." These plants are an important part of Montana's unigue 

 state heritage, and documenting their distribution and abundance 

 is the first step to insure their conservation. Recent botanical 

 discoveries in Beaverhead County have included plants not 

 previously known in Montana and plants which have not yet been 

 scientifically described and named. In addition, many species 

 have been found to be more common than previously thought. These 

 discoveries have resulted in many recent changes and proposed 

 changes to the list of Montana plant species of special concern, 

 and are an indication of the relative infancy of botanical study 

 in Beaverhead County. 



This report describes a survey of the vicinity of Bannack 

 State Park, Beaverhead County, Montana, for plant species of 

 special state concern. The survey was initiated to insure that 

 specific projects proposed by the park would not impact 

 populations of these plants, however, the opportunity was given 

 to survey the entire park and immediately surrounding BLM lands. 

 Bannack State Park is located in the center of an area known to 

 host several endemic plant species and was thus identified as 

 having a high potential for hosting some of these rare plants. 

 The results of this survey are meant to serve as a botanical 

 baseline to aid in the long term management of Bannack State Park 

 and also to provide an interpretive tool for Bannack 's visitors. 



THE STUDY AREA 



Bannack State Park lies along Grasshopper Creek, close to 

 the center of Beaverhead County, about 20 miles southwest of the 

 county seat, Dillon. The town was Montana's first territorial 

 capital, and today many visitors are attracted to the remote site 

 by its historical ghost town. Gold was first discovered along 

 Grasshopper Creek in 1862, and soon after, the town of Bannack 

 boomed. The gold did not last long, nor did the designation as 

 territorial capital, but the legacy of gold mining is readily 

 apparent in the overturned streambeds of Grasshopper Creek and 

 extensive bedrock excavations downstream from the abandoned 

 townsite . 



