6.) STABILIZED BEACH RIDGES: Immediately behind the gravel 
beaches are located bands of almost pure stands of Elymus 
mollis on the old, raised beaches. Stabilization of the sand 
and gravel of these old beaches is taking place, however, 
"washouts" from recent storms are evident. Scattered through 
the stands of Elymus are Angelica iucida, Lathyrus maritimus, 
Cochlearia officinalis, Senecio “pseudo-arnica and Calamagrostis 
deschampsioides. 
Several other vegetative types, or plant communities, are present 
on St. Matthew Island but they are of less importance as reindeer 
range and occupy restricted areas. 
Immediately inland from the Elymus beach ridges, between Big Lake 
and the sea, is a flat expanse about 500 yards wide by four miles long 
which is grown almost exclusively to Empetrum nigrum (Fig. 23). It 
is a dry, well-drained flat, with a very thin soil layer overlying 
coarse irregular-shaped gravel. Widely scattered in this matrix of 
Empetrum, which is quite depauperate, are plants of Salix arbutifolia, 
Oxytropis nigrescens, Artemisia arctica var. beringensis and 
Deschampsia caespitosa. A few other examples of this community are 
found under similar conditions throughout the island but they are 
quite limited in size. 
Adjacent to several of the large lakes are flood plains which 
are inundated annually or every few years. Water levels in the lakes 
can be raised through storm tides, which flood over the beach dykes, 
excessive spring runoff and raising of the beach dykes through wave 
action. These flood plains, with rich alluvial soils, support lush 
growth of grasses and some forbs and willows. Deschampsia caespitosa 
is the dominant grass often forming pure stands. Forms of Salix 
arbutifolia occur commonly on these sites as well as Rumex fenestratus. 
The vegetation recorded in Transect 8 in the Appendix, is typical of 
these lake flood plains. 
Other vegetative types occupying limited areas include: Lake 
shores with rushes, Potentilla palustris and Ranunculus hyperboreus 
predominant; lakes and ponds where Hippuris vulgaris, Equisetum 
palustre and Potamogeton sp. are present; and cliff faces where 
Cochlearia officinalis, Arenaria peploides, Claytonia acutifolia and 
a few grasses grow luxuriantly in the crevices in the rock, fertilized 
by droppings from the sea birds. 
Summer Range Use 
Evaluations of range condition and the effect of ungulate util- 
ization are difficult tasks on any range. On the tundra biome, 
where perennial growth does not exceed a few inches, variations in 
range conditions are not obvious. Lacking accurate knowledge of the 
appearance of the range in previous years, a certain amount of 
24 
