A survey and assessment of the rare vascular plants of the Idaho

Great Basin Naturalist 1-31-1984 A survey and assessment of the rare vascular plants of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory site Anita F.. 1984 "A survey and assessment of the ra

Great Basin Naturalist

1-31-1984

A survey and assessment of the rare vascular plants of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory site

Anita F Cholewa

University of Idaho, Moscow

Douglass M Henderson

University of Idaho, Moscow

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn

Recommended Citation

Cholewa, Anita F and Henderson, Douglass M (1984) "A survey and assessment of the rare vascular plants of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory site," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol 44 : No 1 , Article

15

Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol44/iss1/15

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Basin Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive For more information, please contact scholarsarchive@byu.edu, ellen_amatangelo@byu.edu

A SURVEY AND ASSESSMENT OF THE RARE VASCULAR PLANTS

OF THE IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY SITE

Anita F.Cholewaand DouglassM Henderson'

.\bstr.\ct.—atwo-year study of the rare vascular plants of theIdahoNationalEngineering Laboratory generated

newdataontheabundance,distribution,andhabitat features of eight taxa presentlyunder reviewat either the fed-eral or state level, or recentlyproposed for such review Astragalusccramicus Sheld var.apus Barnebyis common

ontheINELandadjacent areasandwillberecommendedforremovalfrom further consideration at the federal

lev-elandplaced on Idaho's Federal Watch List.Con/phantamissoiiriensis (Sweet) Britt.&Roseiscommonthroughout

east central Idaho , but willbe recommendedforretainment onthe StateWatchList Gijmnosteris uiicIicauUs (H.& A.)GreeneandOxi/theca dendroideaNutt are also recommendedfor retentiononthe State Watch List.Four taxa not previouslyknownto occur in Idahoor notknown from the southeastern part of the state {Astragalus gihiflorus Sheld., Astragalus kentrophifta Gray var jessiae (Peck) Barneby, Gilia pohjcladon Torr., andLesquerella kingii S Wats var cobrensis Roll. &Shaw)were encountered andevaluated with reference to current or potential threats,

andarerecommendedforplacement onIdaho's StateWatchList.

1973 and the subsequent reauthorizations

from land managers concerning the status of

rare plants, and the desire to know more

about these unusual organisms, have resulted

gen-erally summarizing data on a state-by-state

basis (Henderson et al. 1977, Mozingo and

Williams 1980, and others) Additionally,

some federal agencies (e.g., U.S Forest

Ser-vice,BLM, U.S Department ofEnergy) have

fed-eral lands

Although floristic studies have been

Energy Idaho National Engineering

Labora-tory (INEL) site (Atwood 1970, Jeppson and

Holte 1978), they provided little information

on the abimdance and distribution of plant

the rare plants were to be made The U.S

INEL.

Before any quantitativeanalysis ofimpacts

gather preliminary information on their

ma-jor goal, field work on the INEL was

ini-tiated in the spring of 1981 with the follow-ing objectives: (1) document the abundance and distribution of all rare plant taxa

plants, and (3) make preliminary

habi-tatssupportingrareplant taxa

The approximately one-half million acres

Idaho (Fig 1). This is an area of lava flows

Lost River Sinks The vegetation is largely

Chrysothamniis viscidiflortis (Hook.) Nutt.,

and Poa secunda Presl predominating, al-though woodlands of Jtiniperus osteospenna (Torr.) Littleoccurlocally

'Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83843.

140

January 1984 Cholewa,

Fig 1 Location ofIdahoNationalEngineeringLaboratory.

Methods

likely tobe the most productive Towardthis

objective, a tentative list of rare plant taxa

was compiled to include known distribution,

habitat, and phenological data This list was

Species of Concern in Idaho (Rare and

En-dangeredPlants Technical Committee, Idaho

supplemented with recent data supplied by

with the use of USGS topographic maps, a

1978), assistance from INEL personnel, and

Upon encountering a species ofconcern, a

success), current or potential threats under existing management, and detailsofthe

habi-tat including associated species Voucher specimens are deposited at ID, IDS, and the

herbarium of the Radiological and Environ-mentalSciences Laboratory ontheINEL.

were encountered during the study, one of

re-view, and three are of state concern No

en-dangered orthreatened at the federal orstate levels were encountered on the INEL. Addi-tional taxa not previously known from Idaho

142 Great Basin Naturalist Vol.44, No 1

or whichrepresented significant range

exten-sions within Idaho, were also encountered

These taxa were evaluated in the same

man-nerastaxa fromtlie workinglist.

CandidateTaxaforFederal Review

Astragalus ceramicus Sheld var apiis

Bameby (Fabaceae).—Previously known as

Snake River Plain It was generally

consid-ered to be rare by members ofthe Rare and

INAC (1981), although it was reported tobe

a co-dominant in sandy areas near the north

end ofthe INEL(Anderson et al. 1978) This

moder-ate to deep sandandincommunities with

Ar-temisia tridentata ssp. tridentata,

Ricker predominating

individuals, were encountered on the INEL

during our study Additional populations

were also encountered in similar habitats

ad-jacent to the INEL and in other areas ofthe

Reproductivesuccessappearstobe

moder-ate, with perhaps four to five legumes

pro-duced per aerial stem, and some seedlings

were observed each season Vegetative

extensiverhizomes,appears tobevigorous

Nearly all populations examined are

im-pact of this activity on the populations

re-mainslargelyimknown.

The apparent reproductive success, even

with grazing, and the numerous populations

now known throughout the eastern Snake

placement on the state list of endemics or

near endemics that do not appear to be in

Watch

Idaho State Watch ListTaxa

spe-cies was known only as far west as Madison

County, Montana A single population isnow known froma limestone ridge on the extreme southern endoftheBeaverhead Mountains at

development and the approximately 100

bedrock within an open community of

Cronq., A tridentata ssp wyomingensis

caes-pitosum (Nutt.) Rydb Close associates here

Hy-menopappus filifolius Hook. var idahoensis

Turner, and Penstemonaridus Rydb

Although this area is open to grazing, the

rocky nature of the habitatand theextremely

animals

We have recommended to the Rare and

INAC, that this taxonbe placed on the State

Watch List for Idaho, and suggest that

addi-tional similar habitats within this area be

Astragalus kentrophyta Gray var jessiae

was reported to have a bimodal distribution

with an eastern center in southwestern

Wyoming and awesterncomponent in

south-western Idahoand adjacent Oregon (Barneby 1964) The variety was discovered on the

INEL during the course ofour study and was

reported as a significant addition to its knownrange(Cholewa and Henderson 1983) Only three small populations are now known from the eastern Snake River Plain,

the southern end of the Lemhi Range The

Juniperus osteosperma/Artemisia

(McBride et al. 1978), but the sites support-ing Astragalus kentrophyta are

January 1984 Cholewa,

distinctive in lacking the Artemisia

Associ-ated species include Eriogoniim ovalifolitim

Nutt., Arenaria franklinii Dougl., and

Aris-tida purpurea Nutt var longiseta (Steudel)

Vasey

It is clear from additional weedy species

habitat It is not clear, however, what

has had on this taxon For these reasons we

have recommended placement of this taxon

on theStateWatch List forIdaho

Rose (Cactaceae).— Within the INEL this

species appears to be restricted to gravelly

flats and rocky ridges along the northern

boimdary incommunities ofArtemisia

abimdant

ex-ploitation by cactus hunters prompted its

placement on theState WatchListfor Idaho

Gilia polycladon Torr (Polemoniaceae).—

A member of the western Great Basin flora,

its distribution in Idaho has been described

locations Its discovery on the INEL

repre-sentsanextension to eastern Idaho (Cholewa

and Henderson 1983)

Only a few locations are known for this

taxon, on the INEL and on National Forest

commu-nities are dominated by Artemisia arbuscida

var nova or Elymus ambiguus Vasey &

Scribn Close associates vary considerably

among the areas but often include such taxa

ssp. punctata (Gov.) Timbrook, Loppula

Although the populations are located

with-in areas open to livestock, the dry, rocky

slopes probably prevent excessive grazing

We have recommended placement on

Roll & Shaw (Brassicaceae).—This species

isalso a member ofthe Great Basin flora and wasnot knownto occur inIdaho priorto our study The var cobrensis, formerly known

the few Idaho populations are characterized

soil. These open habitats are dominated by

Artemisia tridentata ssp wyomingensis,

se-cunda, with no apparentconstantassociates

recom-mendations, therefore, were placement on

Acknowledgments

We thank the personnel of the U.S

De-partment of Energy, especially Doyle

assistance with this research, and Jay

Garden, Reed Rollins oftheGray Herbarium,

and Dieter Wilkin ofColorado State

Univer-sity for their assistance with identification of

Literature Cited

Anderson, J. E., R. J. Jeppson, R. J. Wilkosz, G. M

vegetational development on the IdahoNational

Engineering Laboratory site Pages 144-166 in Progress report IdahoNationalEngineering

Lab-oratory site— ecology programs. IDO-12087

Na-tionalTechnicalInformation Service, Springfield, Virginia.

Atwood, N. D 1970 Flora of the National Reactor

Testing Station. BrighamYoungUniv Sci Bull., Biol Ser 11(4).46pp.

Ayensu,E S.,anda Defilipps 1978. Endangered and

threatened plants of the UnitedStates Smithso-nian Institution and World Wildlife Fund, Inc.,

144 Great Basin Naturalist Vol.44, No 1

Barneby, R C 1964 Atlas of North American

Astra-galus. Mem.NewYorkBot Card 13 1188 pp.

Note-worthy collections of Idaho: LesqtiereUa kingii

var cobrensis Astragalus kcntrophyta var

jes-siae,andCilia pohjclaclon. Madroiio30:63-64.

Davis, R.

J 1952 Flora of Idaho. Brigham Young

Uni-versity, Provo, Utah.836pp.

Goodrich, S., D. M Henderson, andA F. Cholewa

1983. Noteworthy collections of Idaho:

Astra-galus gilviflorus and Hackclia davisii. Madrono

30:63.

Henderson, D M., F D.Johnson, P. Packard, andR.

Steele 1977. Endangered and threatened plants

of Idaho: asummaryof currentknowledge.Univ.

of Idaho Forest, Wildlife and Range E.xpt Sta.

Contr 73 72 pp.

Hitchcock, C L., A. Cronquist, M Ownbey, and J.

W.Thompson 1961 Vascular plants of the

Pacif-ic Northwest Vol 3 Univ ofWashington Press,

Seattle.614pp.

Jeppson, R.

Idaho National Engineering Laboratory site.

Pages 129-143in 1978 Progress report Idaho

Na-tional Engineering Laboratory site—ecology pro-grams. IDO-12087 National Technical Informa-tion Service, Springfield, Virginia.

Det.vier 1978 Vegetation typesandsurface soils

of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

Site.IDO-12084 NationalTechnical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia.29pp.

and endangered plants of Nevada USDI Fish & Wildlife Service and Bur. Land Management

268pp.

Idaho Natural Areas Council 1981 Vascular plant species ofconcern in Idaho Univ ofIdaho

Forest, Wildlife and Range Expt Sta Bull .34.

161 pp.

Rollins, R. C,and E A. Shaw 1973. The genus Les-quercllo (Cruciferae) in North America Harvard

Univ Press. Cambridge,Massachusetts.288pp.