Rare Plant Survey of San Juan Public Lands, Colorado 2005 Prepared by Colorado Natural Heritage Program 254 General Services Building Colorado State University Fort Collins CO 80523 Rare Plant Survey of San Juan Public Lands, Colorado 2005 Prepared by Peggy Lyon and Julia Hanson Colorado Natural Heritage Program 254 General Services Building Colorado State University Fort Collins CO 80523 December 2005 Cover: Imperiled (G1 and G2) plants of the San Juan Public Lands, top left to bottom right: Lesquerella pruinosa, Draba graminea, Cryptantha gypsophila, Machaeranthera coloradoensis, Astragalus naturitensis, Physaria pulvinata, Ipomopsis polyantha, Townsendia glabella, Townsendia rothrockii. Executive Summary This survey was a continuation of several years of rare plant survey on San Juan Public Lands. Funding for the project was provided by San Juan National Forest and the San Juan Resource Area of the Bureau of Land Management. Previous rare plant surveys on San Juan Public Lands by CNHP were conducted in conjunction with county wide surveys of La Plata, Archuleta, San Juan and San Miguel counties, with partial funding from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO); and in 2004, public lands only in Dolores and Montezuma counties, funded entirely by the San Juan Public Lands. Funding for 2005 was again provided by San Juan Public Lands. The primary emphases for field work in 2005 were: 1. revisit and update information on rare plant occurrences of agency sensitive species in the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) database that were last observed prior to 2000, in order to have the most current information available for informing the revision of the Resource Management Plan for the San Juan Public Lands (BLM and San Juan National Forest); 2. survey areas throughout the seven counties in the BLM’s San Juan Resource Area and San Juan National Forest that had been missed in previous surveys; 3. survey known and potential locations and assessing viability of two newly described species, Gypsum Valley cat-eye (Cryptantha gypsophila) and cushion bladderpod (Physaria pulvinata); CNHP began the project in April 2005 with an analysis of existing records, selection of targeted inventory areas, gathering other information and planning access to targeted sites. Field work began in April, starting on BLM lands at the lowest elevations, and moving upward to alpine sites by July and August. Seventy-five targeted inventory areas were surveyed. Seventy new and updated occurrences of rare plants were documented. Sixteen new Potential Conservation Areas (PCAs) were delineated and six existing PCAs revised with new information. These include two sites ranked B1 (Extremely high biodiversity significance), fifteen ranked B2 (Very high), two B3 (High), two B4 (Moderate) and one B5 (General biodiversity significance). Species lists were prepared for fifty-five sites. Highlights of the field season included surveys of sites for two newly described species, Cryptantha gypsophila and Physaria pulvinata. Gypsum outcrops in Big Gypsum Valley were found to support three rare lichen species and a state rare grass, in addition to Cryptantha gypsophila. One of the most rare plants in the state, the Pagosa skyrocket (Ipomopsis polyantha) was found for the first time on public lands. Another globally imperiled species, Gray’s Townsend daisy (Townsendia glabella), was found to be locally abundant in the Pagosa Springs area. i Acknowledgments We are continually grateful for the ongoing support of Jeff Redders, San Juan National Forest, and Gary Thrash (BLM). We couldn’t ask for better people to work with. Leslie Stewart at the San Juan National Forest and BLM in Dolores and Sara Brinton at the USFS in Pagosa Springs have been extremely helpful, and do a great job of working to protect rare plants in their districts. We thank Larry St. Clair for traveling from Utah to Colorado to check out the lichens in Big Gypsum Valley. At various times we had help and companionship in the field from Rick Lyon, Al and Betty Schneider, Laura Cosse, Millie and Jordy Cosse, Sue Coe, Art Goodtimes, and of course Misia (golden retriever). We thank Julia’s husband Matthias and daughters Alpin and Valgedur for managing at home alone so allow Julia could spend time in the field. The great crew of Colorado Native Plant Society members from Pagosa Springs, including Charlie King, Dick Mosely, Sue Coe and Sandy Friedley, and Ellen Mayo of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, made tremendous strides this year toward increasing our knowledge and protecting the most rare plant in the area, the Pagosa skyrocket. Our staff in Fort Collins, including the botany team--Jill Handwerk, Dave Anderson and Susan Spackman--and Amy Lavender, GIS specialist, all deserve much credit for their patience and work behind the scenes. ii Table of Contents Executive Summary............................................................................................................. i Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... ii Chapter I.............................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Objectives ........................................................................................................................ 2 Methods ........................................................................................................................... 2 Results ............................................................................................................................. 7 Chapter II. Updates of existing element occurrence records ............................................. 9 Chapter III. Rare Plants of San Juan Public Lands with New and Updated Occurrences in 2005................................................................................................................................... 14 Species profiles and Element Occurrence Rank Specifications .................................... 16 Amsonia jonesii (Jones blue-star) .............................................................................. 17 Artemisia pygmaea (pygmy sagebrush)..................................................................... 19 Astragalus naturitensis (Naturita milkvetch).............................................................. 21 Calochortus flexuosus (weak-stemmed or winding mariposa lily)............................ 23 Cryptantha gypsophila (Gypsum Valley cat-eye) ...................................................... 25 Cypripedium parviflorum (yellow lady’s slipper) ..................................................... 28 Draba borealis (boreal whitlow-grass) ....................................................................... 30 Draba graminea (San Juan whitlow-grass)................................................................. 32 Draba streptobrachia (Colorado Divide whitlow-grass) ............................................ 34 Eriophorum altaicum var. neogaeum (Altai cottongrass) .......................................... 36 Eriophorum chamissonis (Chamisso's cottongrass) ................................................... 38 Hippochaete variegata (variegated scouring rush)..................................................... 40 Ipomopsis polyantha (Pagosa gilia) ........................................................................... 42 Machaeranthera coloradoensis (Colorado tansy-aster) .............................................. 45 Penstemon breviculus (short-stem beardtongue) ....................................................... 47 Penstemon utahensis (Utah beardtongue) .................................................................. 49 Physaria pulvinata (cushion bladderpod) ................................................................... 51 Polypodium saximontanum (Rocky Mountain polypody)......................................... 54 Sporobolus nealleyi (gyp dropseed)........................................................................... 57 Townsendia glabella (Gray’s Townsend-daisy)......................................................... 59 Townsendia rothrockii (Rothrock’s Townsend-daisy)............................................... 61 Trifolium kingii (King’s clover) ................................................................................ 63 Woodsia neomexicana (New Mexico cliff fern)........................................................ 65 Acarospora nodulosa var. nodulosa (nodule cracked lichen)..................................... 67 Gypsoplaca macrophylla (changing earthscale)......................................................... 68 Lecanora gypsicola (gypsum rim-lichen).................................................................. 69 Chapter IV. Potential Conservation Areas....................................................................... 71 iii Big Gypsum Valley PCA ........................................................................................... 73 Plateau Creek PCA..................................................................................................... 77 Blackhawk Mountain PCA......................................................................................... 80 Cave Basin Lakes PCA .............................................................................................. 83 Colorado Trail at Lime Creek Headwaters