14 



Lower Grassy Creek (007) 

 Stopper Creek (010) 



II. ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS 



A. THREATS TO CURRENTLY KNOWN POPULATIONS: 



1. GRAZING: Both of the sites on State of Montana land 

 (Echo Lake (006) and Krause Basin Road (009)) are 

 included in grazing allotments. Neither site 

 appeared to be severely impacted by grazing; however, 

 there is a well used cattle trail just east of the 

 latter population. 



2. TIMBER HARVESTING: Epipactis qiqantea is likely to 

 be impacted by timber harvesting through overstory 

 removal and road building, either of which result in 

 a modification of the hydrology of an area. Several 

 sites (Echo Lake (006) , Stopper Creek (010) , Lower 

 Fatty Creek Road (Oil)) have populations present in 

 barrow pits along Forest Service roads. It is 

 suspected that the Forest Service roadways were cut 

 through areas previously populated by this species, 

 but which then diverted the water flow to barrow 

 pits. These populations may have been more extensive 

 prior to road building activities. 



3. WEED CONTROL ACTIVITIES: The same three populations 

 listed above under timber harvesting, plus Swan Lake 

 (005) and Nimrod Warm Springs (001) sites, are likely 

 to be influenced by weed control owing to their 

 proximity to Forest roadways or highways. Centaurea 

 maculosa is currently invading the Nimrod Warm 

 Springs site (001) . 



4. RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES: The Nimrod Warm Springs 

 site (001) is a popular area for swimmers, and this 

 population may be threatened by their activities. 



B. MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND RESPONSE: As stated previously, 

 populations of Epipactis qiqantea appear to be restricted 

 (at least in Montana) to warm water spring areas. This 

 may be due in part to edaphic or chemical factors that are 

 only found at these types of sites. Because of this 

 restriction, it is necessary to limit any development at 

 or near these sites that might change the water regime in 

 the area. For example, of twelve previously known sites 

 in Canada, three sites have already been lost to resort 

 development, and another is threatened (Brunton, 1986) . 



One site is within the proposed Swan River Research 

 Natural Area (Swan River (002)), and as such, is likely to 



