Black Hills National Forest Northern Hills Ranger District Spearfish, South Dakota Englewood Springs Botanical Area Management Strategy January 2011 Black Hills National Forest Northern Hills Ranger District Contents 1 Purpose of this Management Strategy ............................................................................................. 3 2 Location and Surrounding Land Management ............................................................................. 3 3 Applicable Regulations and Forest Plan Direction ..................................................................... 5 4 Designation History ................................................................................................................................ 5 5 Site Description......................................................................................................................................... 6 5.1 Historic and Current Land Uses ......................................................................................................... 6 5.2 Climate ......................................................................................................................................................... 7 5.3 Geology......................................................................................................................................................... 7 5.4 Soils ............................................................................................................................................................... 8 6 Botanical Values ....................................................................................................................................... 9 6.1 Uncommon Habitats and Vegetation Types .................................................................................. 9 6.1.1 Springhead Habitat ............................................................................................................................................ 11 6.1.2 Picea glauca (White Spruce) Alluvial Black Hills Forest .................................................................... 13 6.1.3 Picea glauca/Linnaea borealis (White Spruce/Twinflower) Forest ............................................. 14 6.2 Secondary Habitats .............................................................................................................................. 16 6.2.1 Grass Meadow...................................................................................................................................................... 16 6.2.2 Pinus ponderosa (Ponderosa Pine)/Juniperus communis (Common Juniper) Forest ............. 17 6.3 Hydrologic Resources ......................................................................................................................... 18 6.3.1 Ground Water Resources ................................................................................................................................ 19 6.3.2 Primary Hydrologic Resources ..................................................................................................................... 20 6.3.3 Secondary Hydrologic Resources ................................................................................................................ 21 6.4 Rare Plant Populations ....................................................................................................................... 23 6.4.1 Astragalus americanus ..................................................................................................................................... 25 6.4.2 Calypso bulbosa var. americana .................................................................................................................... 26 6.4.3 Carex capillaris .................................................................................................................................................... 27 6.4.4 Carex leptalea ....................................................................................................................................................... 28 6.4.5 Corallorhiza trifida ............................................................................................................................................. 28 6.4.6 Cypripedium parviflorum ................................................................................................................................. 29 6.4.7 Listera convallarioides ...................................................................................................................................... 29 6.4.8 Moneses uniflora.................................................................................................................................................. 31 6.4.9 Orobanche uniflora ............................................................................................................................................. 32 6.4.10 Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata ................................................................................................................ 33 6.4.11 Vaccinium membranaceum ............................................................................................................................. 33 6.5 Unusual Plant Assemblages and High Species Diversity ....................................................... 34 6.5.1 Orchid Diversity .................................................................................................................................................. 34 6.5.2 Sedge Diversity .................................................................................................................................................... 35 6.5.3 Vascular Plant Diversity .................................................................................................................................. 35 6.5.4 Fungal, Moss, Lichen, and Liverwort Diversity ...................................................................................... 36 Englewood Springs Botanical Area Management Strategy 1 Black Hills National Forest Northern Hills Ranger District 6.6 Other Contributing Values ................................................................................................................. 37 6.6.1 Ecological and Research Significance ........................................................................................................ 37 7 Desired Conditions ............................................................................................................................... 38 7.1 Purpose of Desired Conditions ........................................................................................................ 38 7.2 Desired Conditions for Englewood Springs Botanical Area ................................................. 38 8 Management Recommendations .................................................................................................... 39 8.1 Forest Management ............................................................................................................................. 39 8.2 Rangeland Management ..................................................................................................................... 40 8.3 Noxious Weeds ...................................................................................................................................... 40 8.4 Recreation ................................................................................................................................................ 41 8.5 Fire and Fuels ......................................................................................................................................... 41 8.6 Water Resources ................................................................................................................................... 41 8.7 Mineral Resources ................................................................................................................................ 41 8.8 Revegetation ........................................................................................................................................... 42 8.9 Transportation ....................................................................................................................................... 42 9 Management Objectives and Monitoring Plan ........................................................................... 42 9.1 Management Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 42 9.2 Monitoring ............................................................................................................................................... 44 10 Literature Cited ...................................................................................................................................... 47 Appendix A: Forest Plan Direction Relevant to Englewood Springs Botanical Area Appendix B: Monitoring Protocols Figures Figure 1. Area map of Englewood Springs Botanical Area ................................................................. 4 Figure 2. Area map of ESBA showing roads and land ownership .................................................... 4 Figure 3. Climate diagram for Lead, SD ...................................................................................................... 7 Figure 4. Geologic map of ESBA and vicinity showing mapped springs.......................................