C. HABITAT 



O HART TAT 



Populations occupy dry grassland and sagebrush/grassland 

 habitats on foothills and alluvial benches ranging in 

 e!eia?ion from 5,600 to 7.000 ft (see slide 14 in Appendix E) . 

 The dominant graminoids include Agropyron spicatum and Carex 

 fill folia and the sagebrush is Artemsia tridentata or A. 

 frigida. Soils are generally fine textured. Plants occur in 

 heavily grazed as well as in more pristine habitats. 



n POPULATION BIOLOGY 



E^tlmat^ numbers ranged from less than 100 to 5,000; four 

 populations were estimated to consist of greater than 1000 

 plants. At two sites which were surveyed there were mature 

 fruiting plants and young vegetative plants, evidence of 

 successlu? reproduction. Fruit was present in early June and 

 the flowers were never seen. Plants tend to grow m small 

 arouDS which are widely scattered over large areas. This 

 Ipecies probably has a more or less contiguous distribution 

 throughout the foothills of the Tendoys and other ranges m 

 Beaverhead County. 



E. MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS 



This species is common throughout the lower elevations m 

 Beaverhead County. Until recently it has probably been . 

 mistaken for species of Coryphantha , however these were not 

 seen in the area. Pediocactus , not Coryphantha, is the common 

 pincushion in the area. Plants are resistant to heavy 

 grazing. The populations seen are large and in good health, 

 even in heavily disturbed habitat. It is recommended that 

 this species be dropped from further BLM consideration and put 

 in the state category of limited distribution species. 



Penstonion lemhiensis (Keck) Keck & Cronq. 

 Lemhi beardtongue 



No new information was collected on this species, which is 

 among the most extensively-studied of BLM sensitive species 

 For description, distribution and habitat, refer to the most 

 recent status report (Schassberger 1990) and the distribution 

 map and printouts at the end of this report in Appendices C 

 and D, respectively. The BLM reports on Pens temon lemhiensis 

 demographic monitoring will help understand population biology 

 and pursue management questions (Heidel and Shelly 199J). 



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