The Alzada Oaks stand south of the town of Alzada 

 and Thompson Creek, represents the westernmost stand 

 in the country. Major portions of the stand extend 

 into Wyoming. Quercus macrocarpa is a low elevation 

 dominant in foothills of the Black Hills of Wyoming 

 and South Dakota. It has also been collected in 

 escarpment settings from McKenzie and Billings 

 County in western North Dakota. 



There are various studies of Quercus macrocarpa 

 species biology, ecology and genetics at the margins 

 of its range (Chechowitz et al. 1987, Osborn et al 

 1982, Schnabel 1987), though none have included the 

 Montana stand. 



In the course of this work, the boundaries of the 

 Alzada Oaks stand were determined. The stand is 

 made up maingly of discontinuous scattered groves 

 within the following sections: 



T.9S R.58E Sec. 34, 35, 36 



T.9S R.59E Sec. 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 



T.9S R.60E Sec. 30, 31 



Aerial photography resources were not at a scale 

 suited for distinguishing tree species, but tree 

 cover is limited in the study area (Figure 2) . 

 Quercus macrocarpa is intermixed with Fraxinius _ 

 pennsylvanica along the Little Missouri River south 

 of Alzada, is dominant in the open savanna 

 conditions across much of the shale outcrop 

 ridges, and is most common as co-dominant with Pinus 

 ponderosa across the eastern 3/4 of the shale 

 outcrop ridges. 



In addition, it is being used increasingly in 

 nursery trade across the state, and many areas 

 of the country are studying it in provenance 

 tests. 



CURRENT SITES: Alzada Oaks is considered to be the 

 only native stand in Montana. There is also a 

 Gallatin County collection from the Montana State 

 University campus (1971) representing horticultural 

 material (see below) . 



HISTORIC SITES: Three counties are represented in 

 the distribution map for Quercus macrocarpa in Booth 

 (1966) : Carter, Powder River and Gallatin. The 

 Carter County record corresponds with the Alzada 

 Oaks site. The Gallatin County site corresponds 

 with a campus planting. The Powder River site 



