The Erinont Gulch site (014) contained 76 plants in 

 1986, 1 plant was seen in 1989, and 10 plants were 

 seen in 1990 (Heinze 1990) . The reasons for these 

 apparent population fluctuations are not clear. 



III. ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS 



A. THREATS TO NEWLY LOCATED POPULATIONS: Six of the eight 

 populations newly located in 1990 contain fewer than 25 

 plants. All but one of the populations is in a 

 roadside or other disturbed site and nearly all contain 

 non-native species. These populations are likely 

 ephemeral in these sites. Because of their small size 

 and likelihood of being affected by road maintenance 

 activities or weed spraying, they are prone to 

 extirpation. 



B. MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS: Four of the eight 

 populations are on land managed by the Beaverhead and 

 Bitterroot National Forests. One site is on land 

 managed by the Bureau of Land Management, two 

 populations are partly on BLM land and partly on 

 privately owned land, and one site is entirely on land 

 that is privately owned. 



Management plans on the national forests should take 

 known populations into account and prevent disturbance 

 of these sites. To prevent inadvertent disturbance, 

 U.S. Forest Service personnel should be provided with 

 detailed information on the location of these Penstemon 

 lemhiensis populations. This is particularly important 

 for those involved in weed control and road maintenance 

 activities. 



The small size of the newly discovered populations is 

 consistent with previous information on this species. 

 The currently known locations were analyzed as to 

 population size and whether the site was primarily in 

 native or disturbed habitat (Table 3) . The disturbed 

 habitats are generally readouts or roadsides. Of the 

 44 recorded sites, two cannot be relocated; one site 

 containing two subpopulations, one in disturbed habitat 

 and one in native habitat was considered to be two 

 populations. Thus, a total of 43 populations was used. 

 The total number of plants from latest counts is about 

 2997; 2419 plants (81% of the total) occur in the 16 

 populations in native habitat. The 27 populations in 

 disturbed habitats total 578 plants (19% of the total) . 

 Of populations with <50 plants, 23 populations, 

 containing a total of 307 plants, occur in disturbed 



