June, 1 July, 4 July and 10 July 1997. Rock at Site 1 was composed predominantly of blocks of 

 diorite about 1 m 3 in size, with less than 5% argillite fragments intermixed. Neither rock material 

 effervesced in acid, indicating the absence of calcium carbonate. Canopy cover was 0% in the 

 search area, slope = 36° facing SSE. Forest at the margins of the talus slope was composed of 

 Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). Pockets of water 

 birch (Betula occidentalis ), quaking aspen ( Populus tremuloides ) and mock orange ( Philadelphus 

 lewisii ) were scattered in and near the margins of the talus and comprised much of the organic 

 litter among the talus fragments. Talus was inspected to a maximum depth of 1 m in an area of 25 

 X 40 m. Additional searches during other visits to Site 1 were focused in this area. Site 2 (about 

 100 m east of Site 1) was composed of about equal amounts of smaller-sized diorite and argillite; 

 average talus fragment size was about 30 X 30 cm. Canopy cover (surrounding species 

 composition as at Site 1) was 0%, slope = 32° facing SSE, search area was 15 X 20 m. Site 3 

 was about 500 m east of Site 2. Search area at Site 3 was 10 X 25 m, rock was 100% argillite 

 with average fragment size about 10 X 20 cm. Slope, aspect, cover and surrounding vegetation 

 at Site 3 were similar to the other two sites. 



Access to the historical sites of Oreohelix alpina was not so straightforward. Neither 

 location can be reached by trail. The McDonald Peak site is in the Grizzly Bear Conservation 

 Zone of the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness and closed to all recreational use from 15 July- 

 1 October. Snowpack often precludes trips into the alpine before mid-July, so the McDonald 

 Peak site was not visited in 1997. Elrod (1901, 1902, 1903b), Pilsbry (1939) and Frest and 

 Johannes (1995) describe the type locality as above treeline on ASinyaleamin Mountains There 

 is no Sinyaleamin Mountain on current U.S.G.S. topographic maps. Details of the 1900 trip on 



