14 

 D. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER ASSESSMENT: 



1. Further field surveys of potential habitats in 

 southwestern Montana. Much of the suitable 

 habitat for A. fecunda in southwestern Montana has 

 been surveyed. It is possible that there are more 

 locations for this species on the Beaverhead 

 National Forest; however, surveys in 1986, 1987, 

 1988 and 1989, covered much of the potential 

 habitat. 



2 . Monitoring studies on U.S. Forest Service lands. 

 Permanent belt transects, using the methods of 

 Lesica (1987) , are currently established at two 

 locations on private lands in Ravalli County 

 (Charleys Gulch (001) and Birch Creek (004)), and 

 at two locations on Beaverhead National Forest 

 lands (Lime Gulch (012) and Canyon Creek (Oil)). 

 These transects should continue to be monitored, 

 as they will provide important information on the 

 life history and ecology of A. fecunda. 



SUMMARY 



Arabis fecunda is a recently described species 

 (Rollins 1984) in the Mustard family. Four years 

 of extensive searching have revealed only 13 

 locations for this species, all of which occur in 

 southwestern Montana (Ravalli (4) , Beaverhead (7) , 

 and Silver Bow (2) counties) . Knapweed invasion 

 threatens the four locations in Ravalli County, 

 while grazing activities may threaten the two 

 populations in Silver Bow County. 



Region 1 (Northern Region) of the U.S. Forest 

 currently lists A. fecunda as a Watch List 

 species. With the newly discovered (1988, 1989) 

 locations for this species on the Beaverhead 

 National Forest, the status of A. fecunda should 

 be changed to Sensitive in Region 1. Due to the 

 limited distribution of Arabis fecunda, it is 

 important to take the areas that contain 

 populations into consideration when planning land 

 use activities that may affect these populations. 



Ongoing studies of the life history of A. fecunda 

 should provide useful information pertaining to 

 the management of this rare species. 



