purpurescens) and curly sedge {Carex rupestris) . Sagebrush 

 grasslands are extensive at all but the highest elevations and 

 are most commonly dominated by Artemisia tridentata var. 

 vaseyana, but in some cases at lower elevations by Artemisia 

 tridentata var. tridentata, Artemisia tripartita , and 

 Artemisia nova. Mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius) 

 covers significant areas of dry, rocky, southern exposed 

 slopes at lower elevations. Wetlands are confined to springs 

 and narrow stream corridors. Apparently absent from the 

 Beaverhead National Forest in the Tendoys are the moist, 

 alkaline bottomlands where many species of special concern 

 were found on BLM and state lands in the vicinity (Vanderhorst 

 and Lesica 1994, also see Appendix F). 



The flora of the Tendoys, and of southwest Montana in 

 general, is characterized by the presence of many species with 

 their centers of distribution in the Great Basin. These are 

 species which have a peripheral or disjunct distribution in 

 Montana, with their central distribution in southern Idaho, 

 western Wyoming and Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and eastern 

 Washington, Oregon, and California. Examples include many of 

 the target species which are treated in the text and 

 appendices of this report. Most of these taxa have Montana 

 distributions confined to the southwestern part of the state, 

 but some also occur in southcentral Montana in the vicinity of 

 the Pryor Mountain Desert (Lesica and Achuff 1992). 



METHODS 



A previous botanical survey of BLM lands in the Tendoy 

 Mountains vicinity (Vanderhorst and Lesica 1994) documented 

 occurrences of 31 plant species tracked at that time by the 

 Montana Natural Heritage Program. Of these, 14 have 

 subsequently been determined to be too common to warrant 

 further tracking (Appendix B), leaving a list of 17 primary 

 target species for this project (Appendix C). In addition, 

 all current Montana plant species of special concern (Heidel 

 1994) were considered targets to insure that species were not 

 omitted which may warrant consideration as sensitive. None of 

 these, however, was known prior to this project from the 

 Beaverhead National Forest in the Tendoys. Throughout this 

 report, the terms "target species", and "prospective sensitive 

 species," will be used synonymously with "Montana plant 

 species of special concern." 



I searched for populations of target species on 

 Beaverhead National Forest lands in the Tendoy Mountains in 

 July and August of 1994. Specific survey dates were July 6- 

 14, July 20-22, July 28-30, and August 14. Searches were made 

 on foot in both known and potential habitats for target 



