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The Hunt For Rare Plants At Spirit Mountain Begins

The McCabe Chapter is acting as fiscal agent for grant funding received by a coalition of local environmental organizations to do a mid-summer plant survey of the Spirit Mountain area, with the help of local volunteers. Gary Walton, the botanist who was hired by the developer to do the initial plant survey, says there's an 80% chance that threatened species, like goblin fern and various moon wort, can be found on the proposed development site in late July this year. Anytime these threatened species are discovered, Minnesota's endangered species law (MS 84.0895) and associated rules (Chapter 6212.1800 -6212.2300 and 6134) impose a variety of restrictions, a permit program, and several exemptions pertaining to species designated as endangered or threatened. The law and rules prohibit taking, importing, transporting, or selling endangered or threatened plant or animal, including their parts or seeds, without a permit. (Download "Endangered Species Permitting Fact Sheet PDF file from the MN DNR website HERE. Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to read file.) 

"The original plant survey was done quickly in the early spring during dry years, when these plants can't be found," said Walton. "Spirit Mountain has all of the characteristics that would provide an ideal habitat for these threatened plants and with enough volunteers in the field, there's a very good chance we will find some."

The survey will run for ten days, and began on Friday, June 27, 2001 (see photos below). Rare plants, if found, will need to be verified by the MN DNR.

In the week prior to the survey, Walton discovered pale sedge (a state listed endangered plant) on the proposed golf course on Sunday the 15th of July, 2001 during a casual herb walk with the Lake Superior Herbalist Guild. Walton and another botanist were surveying the site a week later, in preparation for the upcoming Citizen's Plant Survey, and they discovered and documented a second endangered pale sedge plant directly ON THE PROPOSED FAIRWAY. The locations of these plants have been thoroughly documented via GPS and submitted to the authorities at the DNR.


Volunteers gather at Spirit Mountain to begin rare and endangered plant survey. Botanist Gary Walton (left, plaid shirt, and below) explains the survey and describes the plants to the participants.

   

Threatened Plants Volunteers Are Looking For:

Other Threatened and Endangered Plants That the Botanist Will Be Seeking:

Several other rare species of Botrychium ferns could occur on Spirit Mountain.  B. minganense (Mingan Moonwort, a Special Concern species) was found in Morgan Park in Duluth under quaking aspen trees in 1998.  This population is just a few miles from Spirit Mountain.   Other rarities would include B. matricariifolium (Matricary or Daisy-leaved Moonwort) a regionally rare species is found in several places in Duluth.   B. simplex (Least Moonwort) has been found in Morgan Park and Minnesota Point.  A rare variety called tenebrosum (listed as Special Concern) normally grows in moist hardwood forests and on root hummocks in black ash swamps.  Both habitat types are well represented at Spirit Mountain.  A rare grass, Torreyochloa pallida (Torrey’s Manna Grass, Special Concern) was found Sparganium glomeratum (Clustered Bur-reed, Special Concern) in an ephemeral pool in Hartley Park.  Similar pools, some with Clustered Bur-reed as documented in the1998 rare plant survey, occur on Spirit Mountain. 

Stay tuned here for developments. We will report any rare plant findings.

If you'd like sign up to help out (there's still time!), go HERE. (This link takes you off-site. Use your browser's "BACK" button to return.)

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