Inventory of plants, plant communities and herpetofauna of concern in the vicinity of the Snow-Talon burn, Helena National Forest

Inventory of plants, plant communities and herpetofauna of concern in the vicinity of the Snow-Talon burn, Helena National Forest

“…The forested plant associations are a mosaic of Engelmann spruce / bluejoint reedgrass on wetter sites and subalpine fir -Engelmann spruce / claspingleaf twistedstalk elsewhere. The latter association has a diversity of wet-site forbs but since rusty menziesia (M. ferruginea) has more than 5% cover this should be the rusty menziesia phase of this association (Cooper et al 1985), a phase now elevated to plant association level (NatureServe 2005). The Nolo Lakes expression of this phase matches the modal condition, which is associated with frost pockets and soils with at least seasonally high water tables.…”