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II. INTRODUCTION 



The Garnet Resource Area Office of the Bureau of Land Management is 

 reviewing mining claim permit renewals on Anderson Hill in the Garnet 

 Range, Granite County, Montana (Figure 1) . 



Populations of BLM endangered, threatened, or sensitive plants 

 documented from the area are represented by a single historic 

 collection of Cypripedium calceolus collected from the Garnet, Montana 

 area on Anderson Hill by L.A. Merryfield in 1924. This species is 

 ranked as sensitive on the draft list of sensitive plant species by 

 the Bureau of Land Management in Montana (USDI Bureau of Land 

 Management 1991) . 



Survey work was aimed at relocating the historic record, documenting 

 the population location and habitat needs, to ensure compliance with 

 BLM sensitive species policy. The survey work was conducted May 30, 

 June 11 and June 18 after compiling and reviewing species information 

 and designing a survey method. This final report details survey 

 procedures, background information contributing to survey procedures, 

 survey results, and recommendations. 



III. STUDY METHODS 



Available background species information was compiled to target the 

 species when it is most conspicuous during peak flowering, in areas of 

 suitable habitat (see species background information section) . 



Repeated field visits were made to the study area over the course of 

 three weeks, on 30 May, on 11 June by the author and Stephen Shelly, 

 and on 18 June. These dates span the known range of species flowering 

 times in Montana, as reflected by compiled collection information 

 (Heritage database) . 



There was no habitat information on the specimen label with the 

 original Anderson Hill collection of Cypripedium calceolus to indicate 

 the setting in which it was found. Species habitat information 

 elsewhere in its range was compiled from floras (Corn 1984, Hitchcock 

 1978), sensitive species publications (USDA Forest Service 1990), and 

 botanists who have collected and studied it in Montana (S. Shelly, R. 

 Schneider, and M. Mantas pers. commun.). This is typically along wet 

 margins of the Picea enqelmannii\Equisetum arvense h.t. Since this 

 habitat is not well-represented in the study area, the survey was 

 extended in scope to all well-developed wetland communities in the 

 immediate vicinity. 



Both color and black and white aerial photographs of the area were 

 borrowed from the BLM (1977; flight lines 3-6: frames 22-27; 9x9 

 prints at a scale of 1 mile = 2 5/8") . The color aerial photo 

 encompassing Anderson Hill, #2-6-24, is reproduced to show the 

 location of the primary wetland sites surveyed near Anderson Hill 

 (Figure 2) . Sites identified from aerial photographs included mesic 

 north-facing slopes with forested or meadow seepage communities, wet 

 meadow habitat, and forested stream corridors with varying degrees of 



