toeslopes were dominated by various mixtures of lodgepole pine, 



Douglas-fir, willow and aspen, with slower regeneration of Engelmann 



spruce and scattered subalpine fir and whitebark pine. Understories 



throughout were very sparse, but numerous non-weedy species were 

 present (Table 5). Canada thistle was present. Moss cover was very 



high on these sites, as it was in less disturbed, adjacent subalpine 

 f i r habitat types. 



The disturbed riparian vegetation type was correlated with portions of 

 the D soils mapping unit and the G very gravelly, cobbly sandy loam 

 soil, 0-25 percent slope (refer to Appendix D. SOILS). 



Grazing/Agricultural Uses 



The permit area is unsuitable for cultivation, being more suited to 

 livestock crazing. The Beal Pasture is part of an approximately 

 12,000-acre U.S. Forest Service grazing allotment leased to Maynard 

 Smith of Glen, Montana and managed by Meg Smith. The allotment is 

 designed as a six-pasture rotation grazing system and is grazed from 

 mid-June to mid-October by about 220 animal units (cow-calf pairs), 

 resulting in a total of 880 AUM's. Rated carrying capacity is 1,077 

 AUM's (Sawyer, 1984). The Beal Pasture was grazed during July and 

 August, 1987 (Meg Smith, pers. comm. ) . 



Sawyer (1984) stated that the range is rated in good to excellent 

 condition, with all of it considered to be improving (based on 



33 



