Population Biology and Ecology: Saxifraga tempestiva flowers in 

 June and July and sets seed quickly, usually by mid-summer before 

 the site dries out as run-off from snow melt ends. The 

 populations are often large, consisting of hundreds of plants. 



Threats: No threats are currently known. 



Recommendations for Maintaining Viable Populations: Management 

 plans should take the occurrence of this species fully into 

 account and prevent disturbance to the sites. To prevent 

 inadvertent impacts, detailed information on the location of 

 populations in the Goat Flat Proposed Research Natural Area 

 should be made known to all personnel involved in planning 

 activities in the area. Populations of this species are often 

 hard to detect from a distance and thus, additional surveys of 

 the high altitude meadows of Goat Flat and also east of Storm 

 Lake should be done during early summer to fully delineate the 

 extent and size of populations in the Goat Flat Proposed Research 

 Natural Area. 



Additionally, two species of Botrychium (grapefern) are 

 known from a meadow on the northeast shore of Storm Lake, just 

 north of the current boundary of the area. Botrychium paradoxum 

 is currently on the Region 1 Sensitive plant list and is ranked 

 Gl/Sl. B. hesperium is not a Sensitive species and is ranked 

 G3/S1. These species are often difficult to find and were not 

 located in 1991. If further survey finds them at the previously 

 reported site, the boundary of the Goat Flat Proposed Research 

 Natural Area should be changed to include them. 



VEGETATION 



This preliminary survey concentrated on the plant species 

 present in the Goat Flat Proposed Research Natural Area and 

 little was done with the plant communities. The following is 

 based on sketchy field notes and no plots or releves were done. 

 Some of the major vegetation types are briefly noted (Table 2) 

 but additional types occur in the area. 



The Goat Flat Proposed Research Natural Area lies within 

 both the Upper Subalpine and Alpine vegetation zones. The Upper 

 Subalpine here includes the timberline transition from a treed 

 Subalpine to a treeless Alpine. At the lowest elevations in the 

 area, closed forests predominate. As elevations increase and 

 climatic conditions become more rigorous, the forests become more 

 open as the distance between trees or tree clumps increases. 



Closed forests dominated by Picea enqelmannii and Abies 

 lasiocarpa with an understory characterized by Vaccinium 

 scoparium are most common south of the lake. At higher 

 elevations, an open forest of Picea enqelmannii and Abies 



