INTRODUCTION 



This report describes a sensitive species botanical 

 survey of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in the Tendoy 

 Mountains, in southwestern Montana. The purpose of this work 

 was to locate and evaluate populations of potential sensitive 

 or watch species as proposed by the Bureau of Land management 

 in Montana (USDI Bureau of Land Management 1993) . Surveys to 

 determine the location and size of populations of rare species 

 are being conducted on public lands through the west as a 

 result of the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 and 

 subsequent Bureau of Land management species conservation 

 initiatives. These surveys to determine the location and size 

 of rare plant populations represent a botanical baseline to 

 aid in identifying conservation priorities and developing 

 protection and compatible management strategies. An 

 additional goal of this study was to document the general 

 flora of the Tendoys and provide preliminary data on floristic 

 diversity as a whole. 



THE STUDY AREA 



The Tendoy Mountains are an isolated range located in 

 Beaverhead County in the southwest corner of the state (Figure 

 1) . They lie about 30 miles south-southwest of the county 

 seat, Dillon, and directly west of the small communities of 

 Red Rock, Kidd, and Dell. The Tendoys study area was 

 demarcated by the Red Rock River on the east and by Medicine 

 Lodge Creek on the west. The canyon of Big Sheep Creek 

 bisects the range towards its southern end. 



Bureau of Land Management holdings in the Tendoys are 

 mostly at lower elevations in the foothills and canyons on the 

 periphery and in the Muddy Creek drainage, an interior basin, 

 but higher elevation BLM lands are represented in the north. 

 The survey project was focused on BLM lands, with few data 

 taken on adjacent state, federal, and private lands incidental 

 to traveling and camping in the study area. 



The Tendoy Mountains were formed by folding and faulting 

 of Precambrian, Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata as described by 

 Geach (1972) and Alt and Hyndman (1986). The north-south 

 trending Red Rock fault is evidenced by the steep eastern 

 flank of the range, visible from Interstate 15 between Dell 

 and Red Rock. Exposed bedrock in the mountains and foothills 

 includes some precambrian granite and gneiss along with 

 extensive beds of Mississippian and Pennsy Ivanian sedimentary 

 rocks, mostly limestone and quartzite, respectively. Much of 

 the lower foothills and the Muddy Creek basin are covered by 

 Tertiary sediments (conglomerates, shales, sandstones, 

 limestones, and tuff) . Quaternary deposits include alluvial 



