72 



4. AREAS SURVEYED BUT TAXON NOT LOCATED: Haystack 

 Peak is in the northwest 1/4 of section 26, TVS, 

 R12E. Personnel from the Big Timber Ranger 

 District provided transportation to the Haystack 

 Peak area, and the area at the north base of the 

 mountain was surveyed. This was in accordance with 

 the herbarium label location data. Data from the 

 label specifically reads, "Stillwater County... at 

 north base of Mt. Haystack, head of Boulder Creek." 

 Haystack Peak and the Boulder River are in adjacent 

 Sweet Grass County, but the county boundaries are 

 listed as indefinite on the 1942 Cutoff Mountain 

 Quadrangle (USGS 15' series). 



E. LAND OWNERSHIP: If the population represented by 



the 1945 collection is relocated in a future survey at 

 the north base of Haystack Peak, it would lie wholly on 

 Gallatin National Forest lands, and within the Absaroka- 

 Beartooth Wilderness Area. 



RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER ASSESSMENT: Haystack Peak is 

 truly at the head of neither the Boulder River nor the East 

 Boulder River. It is uncertain what the collectors meant by 

 "head of Boulder Creek." Sheepherder Peak, to the south of 

 Monument and Haystack peaks, is closer to the vicinity of 

 the heads of both rivers. If further surveys are conducted 

 in the area, the heads of both drainages at the base of 

 Sheepherder Peak might be checked, along with more extensive 

 surveys of the Haystack and Monument peaks area. 



SUMMARY: In Montana, Eriqeron eatonii var. eatonii is a 

 taxon occurring at the edge of the range for both the 

 species and the variety. A single historical collection 

 documents the occurrence of the species on the Gallatin 

 National Forest. A survey to relocate this population in 

 1989 was unsuccessful. 



