Because Allotropa virgata does not always appear above ground in 

 any given year, a single-year clearance survey will not always be 

 an accurate representation of the extent or even presence of the 

 species at a site. Sites judged as good potential habitat should 

 be surveyed during two consecutive years to determine population 

 extent and species presence. 



A Northern Rockies Conservation Strategy should be written for 

 Allotropa virgata to address all populations in both Montana and 

 Idaho. Data should be gathered from all sources, including each 

 forests' surveys, monitoring plans, biological evaluations, etc. 

 This plan should present information concerning critical 

 requirements of the species, and give guidelines to managers to 

 help them make decisions about impacts to the species and its 

 habitat. 



Several representative sites with large, healthy meta-populations 

 should be set aside and protected from any current or future 

 threats. These sites should comprise large enough tracts to 

 encompass many small sub-populations, avoid edge effects, provide 

 additional suitable habitat for future colonization, and 

 ameliorate the effects of large-scale habitat disturbance such as 

 stand-destroying fire. Monitoring should continue and be 

 expanded to investigate the long-term viability of the species 

 which should be the basis of any conservation effort. Population 

 age structure, growth, recruitment, size, and distribution both 

 spatially and temporally, are extremely important in determining 

 abundance and distribution of the species, and will be the 

 ultimate means of theorizing how these populations will react to 

 changes in their habitat. 



