The wetland information presented here can be used to prioritize wetlands for conservation, identify irreplaceable wetlands, identify reference wetlands, identify potential mitigation sites, provide a context for wetland permit review, and provide information for landuse decisions.
The Montana Natural Heritage Program surveyed seven wetland sites comprising 16 individual wetlands in the Thomspon Chain of Lakes and vicinity (Figure 1). Five of these sites are located in and around the Thompson Chain of Lakes (Figure 2), while the remaining two sites are located to the east along the Little Blackfoot River and around Rogers Lake (Figure 3). These sites were inventoried and evaluated using the methodology described in Greenlee (1999). Table 1 provides a summary of the criteria used to evaluate the ecological significance of these sites. All sites were surveyed in the summer of 1999. The sites surveyed encompassed a diversity of wetland types, including poor fens, depressional potholes, spring/seeps, lacustrine fringe, and beaver-modified riverine wetlands. Structurally, emergent communities are the most common vegetation types with shrub-dominated communities well represented. Forested wetland communities were inventoried only at Rogers Lake and are represented by small stands of wet spruce and aspen.
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