category are referred to as Federal Candidate 

 Taxa. 



b. U.S. FOREST SERVICE: The U.S. Forest Service 

 list of sensitive species for Region 1 

 (Northern Region) currently includes 

 Astragalus barrii (USDA Forest Service, 

 1988). Objectives and policy of the U.S. 

 Forest Service provides for the management 

 and protection of sensitive species under 

 sections 2670.22 and 2670.32 in the 1984 

 Forest Service Manual. Under these 

 guidelines the Forest Service is to (a) 

 " maintain viable populations of all native 

 species of plants" (2670.22), (b) "avoid or 

 minimize impacts to species whose viability 

 has been identified as a concern" (2670.32.3) 

 and to (c) "establish objectives for Federal 

 candidate species, in cooperation with the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service ... and the states" 

 (2670. 32.5) . 



STATE: Astragalus barrii has been listed as a 

 "vascular plant of undetermined status" by the 

 Montana Rare Plant Project (Lesica et al . , 1984). 

 This category includes " those species for which 

 there is currently not enough information 

 available for inclusion or exclusion from rare, 

 threatened or endangered status." 



Astragalus barrii is currently listed by the 

 Montana Natural Heritage Program (Shelly, 1987) as 

 "threatened throughout range" (21-100 occurrences; 

 global rank = G3). In Montana, it is listed as 

 "endangered in state" (6-20 occurrences; state 

 rank = S2). These Heritage Program ranks do not 

 currently provide any direct legal protection for 

 A. barrii. 



DESCRIPTION 



GENERAL NONTECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: This species 

 is a member of the pea family, but only the shape 

 of the flowers is suggestive of the family. The 

 plant grows in dense mats, rarely exceeding 4 

 inches in height. It's prostrate woody stems give 

 rise to numerous leaves, each made up of 3 

 leaflets. The foliage of A. barrii is densely 

 covered with short, white hairs. From 1-3 

 iridescent bluish-purple to pinkish-purple flowers 

 arise on short stalks in clusters throughout the 

 mats. Astragalus barrii flowers from late April 



