INTRODUCTION 



This report describes a botanical study, including ecological plant community sampling and 

 floristic surveys focused on sensitive plants, conducted by the Montana Natural Heritage 

 Program (MTNHP) in the Ruby Range during the summer of 1996. The purpose of ecological 

 sampling was to document the range of vegetation in the study area, to identify unusual and 

 excellent condition types, and to relate the vegetation to the existing literature. The object of 

 sensitive plant surveys was to document BLM sensitive and watch plant species (USDI BLM 

 1996) which occur in the study area and determine which of these are imperiled and in need of 

 protection and which are not. The results of these studies are essential for incorporating a 

 botanical biodiversity perspective into management of the public lands under BLM domain. 



Lands in the Dillon Resource Area. Butte District, have been a focus of baseline botanical studies 

 over the five year history of the BLM botany program. They have been a priority because 

 southwestern Montana has the highest levels of endemism in the state, and because plant species 

 and communities had not been well documented there at low elevations. Ecological sampling 

 throughout the area was incorporated into a matrix of plant community types found on BLM 

 lands tliroughout the state (Cooper and DeVelice 1995) and culminated in the construction of a 

 vegetation classification for southwestern Montana (Cooper et al. 1995). Baseline botanical 

 surveys for sensitive plants have been conducted in major portions of the Dillon Resource Area 

 including, the Centennial Valley (Culver 1993), the Tendoy Mountains and upper Big Sheep 

 Creek drainage (Vanderhorst and Lesica 1 994), Dutcliman Mountain (Vanderhorst 1 994a), the 

 vicinity of Lemhi Pass (Vanderhorst 1994b), the Horse Prairie Creek Drainage (Vanderhorst 

 1995a), the Sage Creek drainage (Lesica and Vanderhorst 1995), and the Big Hole Valley, 

 Grasshopper Creek drainage, and upper Madison Valley (Lesica 1994, Heidel and Vanderhorst 

 1996). This represents the majority of documentation behind the special status species and 

 supporting database for the Dillon Resource Area. Prior to 1 996, the Ruby Range remained as 

 one of the last large unsurveyed blocks of BLM land in the Dillon Resource Area, and the study 

 described herein was designed and conducted to fill this gap. 



STUDY AREA 

 Physical Setting 



The study area spans the Ruby Range, including BLM lands and some adjacent state and private 

 lands, all north of Township 8 south in southwestern Madison County (Figure 1). The study area 

 is unusual because BLM lands extend to high elevations of the range and do not suiTOund a core 

 of National Forest lands. Thus it represents some of the highest elevation BLM holdings in 

 southwestern Montana. The highest peak in the Ruby Range is within a state owned section. 

 Private lands in the Garden Creek grazing allotment were also included in the study. 



Tlie Ruby Mountains are a relatively small range in the basin and range province of southwestern 

 Montana. They cover about 150 square miles and elevations range from about 5,400 ft (1,650 m) 



