154 National Forests containing 183,380,761 

 acres and 19 National Grasslands with 3,808,500 

 acres (USDA Forest Service 1977) . 



A high objective in the policy of the Forest 

 Service is to give special emphasis to protection 

 of rare and endangered plants and animals 

 (USDA Forest Service 1970a). The National 

 Forests provide some protection for rare plants 

 through regulation of uses such as sales of tim- 

 ber and minor forest products and the grazing 

 of livestock. Commercial harvesting, collecting, 

 and other human activities are administered or 

 restricted by law. 



Within the National Forests are many special 

 areas under administrative designation and 

 management with emphasis on particular fea- 

 tures or objectives. For example, there are 21 

 National Game Refuges and National Wildlife 

 Preserves. 



These special areas give further protection to 

 many representative samples of undisturbed 

 vegetation and to rare plants. Though under 

 regulation, many of these areas are subject to 

 some risks from public use. Nevertheless, the 

 vegetation types containing rare plants have 

 some preservation against disturbance and de- 

 struction of the habitats. Plants so guarded 

 still could be threatened by diseases, insect 

 pests, fire, or other natural causes. Some rare 

 plants in the National Forests may require spe- 

 cial attention in management. 



Research Natural Areas established in the 

 National Forests for scientific and educational 

 purposes total 123 in 29 States and Puerto Rico. 

 Research is concentrated in a series of Experi- 

 mental Forests located in representative forest 

 types over the country. A portion of each Ex- 

 perimental Forest generally is maintained in 



natural condition as a check for comparison 

 with experimental plots. 



The largest acreage given special protection 

 within the National Forests is administered un- 

 der the National Wilderness Preservation Sys- 

 tem, which includes areas managed also by 

 agencies of the Department of the Interior. 

 Under the Wilderness Act of 1964 and earlier 

 regulations, large areas are maintained in nat- 

 ural condition for their wilderness or primitive 

 character without roads and commercial timber 

 harvesting (USDA Forest Service 1970b, 1971). 

 As of Sept. 30, 1976, within the National For- 

 ests there were 89 Wildernesses totaling 12,- 

 368,172 acres and 17 Primitive Areas totaling 

 3,266,750 acres. Many rare plant species, espe- 

 cially those of scattered distribution on high 

 mountain peaks and ranges, are protected with- 

 in these boundaries. 



Also, the Forest Service administers 124 Spe- 

 cial Interest Areas within the National Forests. 

 These areas contain many small examples of 

 natural and near natural vegetation including 

 some rare plants. The 64 Scenic Areas are pre- 

 served primarily for their scenic values and 

 partly for recreation. 



Smaller numbers of areas are classed as His- 

 torical, Archeological, Geological, and Botani- 

 cal. Other special types include National Recrea- 

 tion Areas, National Wild and Scenic Rivers, 

 National Recreation Trails, and National Scenic 

 Trails. 



The 8 Botanical Areas preserve rare plant 

 species and vegetation types, such as conifers 

 and groves of big trees. The largest and best 

 known is Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Bo- 

 tanical Area, 27,160 acres in the Inyo National 

 Forest in California. 



RARE AND LOCAL HARDWOODS 



The tree species of the United States that are 

 classed as rare or local, and which grow wild 

 within the National Forests, are listed here. 

 Trees on preliminary lists of proposed endan- 

 gered and threatened plant species compiled by 

 the Smithsonian Institution (1975) are so des- 

 ignated, though none has been so classified 

 officially. 



The rare and local hardwoods in the National 

 Forests of continental United States, totaling 

 14 species and 4 varieties, have been grouped 

 below by 5 geographical regions : Eastern, Flor- 

 ida, Arizona (or Southwestern) , California, and 

 Northwestern. Within each region the species 



are arranged alphabetically by scientific name. 

 Conifers, which are treated in first report (Lit- 

 tle 1975a) , follow in a separate summary. Addi- 

 tional topics are devoted to border species in the 

 Coronado National Forest in Arizona and New 

 Mexico, to rare trees in the National Forests of 

 Alaska, and to rare and endemic trees in the 

 Caribbean National Forest in Puerto Rico. 



Eastern 



The first geographical region, Eastern United 

 States, contains the 8 tree species listed below. 

 Five are present inside National Forests, and 3 



3 



