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577.82 



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 2002 



MONTANA STATE LIBRARY 



3 0864 1001 8344 4 



(A) Nam.;! Heritage 2002 List of Ecological 

 \I^ Program Commnities for Mo^nt^ ^„^^^„,„„ 



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MONTANA STATE LIBRARY 



1515 E. 6th AVE. 

 HELENA, MONTANA 59620 



Prepared by: 



Montana Natural Heritage Program 



Montana State Library 



P.O. Box 201800 • 1515 East Sixth Ave • Helena, MT 59620-1800 • 406-444-3009 



http://nhp.nris.state.mt.us 



Introduction 



What types of natural vegetation exist across Montana's landscape? Where do they occur and 

 why? Which community types are intrinsically rare or limited in distribution, and which are 

 widespread? Which have greatly diminished in extent and may be at risk? 



Answers to these questions are important to guide resource management, however these answers 

 hinge on how we define and categorize the rich ecological diversity that is among Montana's 

 greatest natural assets. Ecologists at the Montana Natural Heritage Program systematically 

 collect information to help identify and understand the natural communities of Montana. They 

 utilize a classification approach, developed in partnership with the network of Natural Heritage 

 Programs, that is scientifically sound, consistent and flexible. 



Natural communides are assemblages of species that respond similariy to climatic, soil, 

 topographic, geological hydrologic, historical and other environmental conditions. . 

 Communities are identified primarily by unique repeating assemblages of plant species. But 

 communities are more than the sum of their species - they also represent the myriad biological 

 and environmental interactions that are inherently a part of each unique natural sysicrn. Thus, 

 environmental characteristics, ecological processes and associated fauna are also used in 

 characterizing natural communities. An underlying assumption is that vegetation is one of the 

 best indicators of environmental characteristics. 



Natural communities have great value for resource management. It is now widely agreed that 

 managing biological resources on a species by species basis is impractical and inadequate, except 

 for a relatively limited number of large mammals, birds and plants that are of particular value to 

 people or in special cases where particular species are facing individual threats to their survival. 

 However there are many thousands of species that make up our native ecosystems and play a key 

 role in the health of those systems - soil development, pollination, breaking down organic 

 materials into nutrients, and as links in the food chain. 



Communities are increasingly used as management units that represent certain "habitats" - 

 assemblages of species adapted to similar conditions and processes. Thus, armed with 

 knowledge about the diversity, composition distribution, status and ecological requirements of 

 communities, managers can focus on these naturally-occurring assemblages of organisms to 

 maintain the health of multitudes of species and interactions that would be impossible to manage 

 individually. 



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