Background

Glacier National Park encompasses 1.08 million acres composed of conifer forests, grasslands, riparian areas, aspen groves, and rock. Vegetation patterns in Glacier National Park are complex and dynamic. The current distribution of vegetation was originally influenced by the post-Pleistocene retreat of glaciers as continental ice and mountain glaciers melted and unvegetated habitats were created and exposed to plant invasion around 13,000 to 11,000 years ago. Other factors that continue to affect where plants are found today include elevation, temperature, and disturbance factors such as fire. In addition, several floristic regions (Cordilleran—including Cascade and Rocky Mountains Subprovinces , Boreal, Arctic-alpine, and Great Plains Provinces ) meet in the park resulting in many plant species meeting the limits of their distribution. The major community types that are currently found in Glacier include: grasslands, pine or woodland savannahs, bottomland forests, ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests, western red-cedar/western hemlock forests, spruce/fir forests, and alpine communities. Cedar/hemlock forests are the most diverse communities and include almost all of the tree species found in Glacier National Park . Less prevalent community types include marshes, swamps, lakes, and barren, rocky talus slopes. Although these lesser community types cover only a small portion of the park, they contribute to overall diversity and contain many of the park's rare species. Seventy of Glacier's vascular plant species are on Montana's sensitive plant list and 18 of these species are found nowhere else in Montana . Major factors contributing to the high floristic diversity in Glacier include the contrast between climates of the east and west sides of the Continental Divide, the sharp topographic relief, and the wide range of soil acidity/alkalinity.

Most of the plant communities are similar to how they were when the park was founded in 1910 and most of the plants are native. However, not all native plant communities are intact. Whitebark pine, a keystone species that is important for the health of many wildlife populations, is less abundant than it was historically. Also, many introduced species are now found in the park, especially in disturbed areas. Out of the 1,132 vascular plant species found in Glacier National Park, 127 species are introduced, non-native plants. Fourteen of these plant species are state-listed noxious weeds. Noxious weeds are characterized by being aggressive; they can displace native plants even in intact native communities. Some of the most problematic noxious weeds are oxeye daisy, spotted knapweed, St. Johnswort, and leafy spurge. Noxious weeds are mainly found in disturbed areas along roads, stream courses, and in campgrounds. Each summer, technicians treat or remove noxious weeds. Glacier also has a restoration program that plants native species. These restoration activities are focused on the areas where weeds are found and in other areas that are impacted by human activities (roads, buildings, and campgrounds).

Research Needs

Native plants

Analyze human use of wild berries. Each year unknown quantities of wild berries are collected and exported from the Park for human consumption. The impact of this loss of biomass, nutrients, energy, and forage is completely unknown.

Perform a Level 2 vascular plant inventory. Desired results include: developing a thorough inventory of plant species in the park, quantifying the distribution and abundance of species of concern (e.g., locally rare native species and habitats, invasive exotic species, species-area relationships, species affinities to cover types), and developing an unbiased series of plots suitable for future long-term monitoring.

Determine the abundance and distribution of plant species as they define habitats of concern such as wetland fens. Assess the completeness of rare plant inventories and their correlation with habitats of concern.

Inventory and map selected populations of rare plants.

Develop an inventory of mushrooms and other fungi in Glacier National Park , including data on substrates, habitats, distribution, and fruiting season. The park does not have a database of fungi for the park.

Mine herbariums for specimens collected in Glacier National Park to include specimen data in park database. A literature survey should be conducted to determine where early explorers' deposited their work, and herbariums such as University of Montana, Montana State University, New York Botanical Garden (Williams, Vreeland), Northwestern University in Illinois, (Umbach, McLaughlin), Utah State University (Maguire), U.S. Forest Service in Missoula (Hermann), Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (Schuyler), and possibly others should be mined for data. NPS is already conducting work at larger institutions, such as the Smithsonian, and we have been sent data from University of Washington.

Study response of huckleberry to fire. How many years does it take for berry production to resume to normal? Compare sites by fire severity, soil type, soil moisture, slope, and aspect.

Conduct inventories for Botrychium lineare . This species is a Candidate for listing as Threatened or Endangered. All known populations in or near the park are found in human-disturbed habitats. Can the species be found in more natural settings? There is also potential to collaborate on a project to describe a Botrychium species newly identified to science.

Study biology of Corydalis sempervirens (Fumariaceae), a very rare plant that is found only in the first few years after fire. We have only a handful of historical records for it in the park (1894, 1901, 1928, 1989, and 2002). In 2002, a very large population was found in the Moose fire perimeter. Several more populations cropped up in 2004, and there is great opportunity to find more populations and to study how long they persist in the near future.

Expand upon the current inventory of lichens, mosses, and liverworts: complete the inventory and begin to establish the distribution and abundance of these species. Emphasize those species most likely to be affected by air pollution and that are potential indicators of ecosystem health. Collect specimens for park herbariums.

Exotic weeds

Determine the abundance and current and potential distribution of invasive plant species. This study would be conducted for known exotic species and several potential species currently documented as small populations or occurring nearby.

Classify plant communities based on their vulnerability to alien plant invasion.

Determine potential alien plant invaders. Predict vulnerability of different plant communities to the establishment of exotic species not currently in the area.

Develop strategies to contain and control targeted weed populations using an integrated approach and including a follow-up restoration strategy to prevent replacement by more weeds.

There are a handful of weed species that have varieties native to the western U.S. as well as weedy varieties introduced from Europe. It would be interesting to pin down whether the weed species that occur in Glacier are the native or exotic strains.

Determine effectiveness of herbicide treatments on noxious weed infestations.

Plant communities

Map functional wetlands and riparian areas in priority areas. Produce an inventory and characterization (soil, vegetation, hydrology) of riparian and wetland habitats within the park, utilizing and augmenting existing data and mapping/classification protocols.

Study the effects of fire on eastside aspen stands. Determine the current health of aspen stands.

Conduct grassland inventories to provide information on condition, species composition, and the extent of exotic invasion in native grasslands.

Map and assess status of sensitive plant communities and rare plant populations within them. Focus on bog or mire communities, which are particularly sensitive and harbor many rare plant species, and conduct a more detailed study of the vegetation dynamics and their drivers within these communities. Define and prioritize sensitive habitats, such as old-growth forest. Analyze the habitat distributions to determine regional sensitivity and assess the future vulnerability of key habitats.

Some communities in Glacier harbor several different species of rare plants. What are the characteristics of these communities that makes them so conducive to rare plants (generally wetland/alpine habitats)? Map these communities and rare plants.

Conduct a vegetation/fire history study utilizing bog cores/pollen identification to determine vegetation changes and historical fire events going back hundreds and possibly thousands of years.

Conduct a literature review of historical vegetation management actions in the park. This background information will be used in the park's Vegetation Management Plan.

Restoration

Develop genetic inventories of plant populations that are used to restore native communities. How far can seeds of a given species be transferred from their original source before they would be outside the range of their particular genetic strain?

Evaluate the physical and chemical properties of soils at undisturbed sites, compacted and denuded sites, and restored sites. How long does it take a restored site to have similar soil characteristics to an undisturbed site? How effective are standard revegetation techniques of soil scarification and amendment at returning viable soil characteristics including cation exchange, water movement and microbial populations?

Evaluate different methods of soil rehabilitation, including scarification amendment, and compare them to non-amended sites where planting has also occurred. Look especially at the effect of effective soil rehabilitation on the ability of seeded material to germinate and establish.

Determine the mycorrhizal species that are associated with plant species used in restoration. What mycorrhizal species are associated with native plant communities of interest in various plant community types? Are these critical to rehabilitation efforts?

Evaluate the rate at which mycorrhizae and other soil microorganisms recolonize a disturbed site. Evaluate undisturbed, disturbed, and revegetated sites.

What are effective methods of site inoculation of required soil fungi – and what are these required soil fungi?

What is the genetic diversity of mycorrhizal species – is this an important consideration when deciding to import topsoil?

What are the most cost effective and beneficial ways to produce mycorrhizae for inoculation of plants and restoration sites?

Does the use of mulches limit seed germination and seed rain potential at restoration sites. What are the most beneficial mulches?

What revegetation species are most resistant to degradation by herbicide treatments used for exotic plant control in Glacier?

Continue investigating appropriate methods for the propagation of difficult species such as various mosses, ferns, Xerophyllum tenax , Luzula species, Menziesia ferruginea , Vaccinium species, and others.

Study several aspects relating to development of a whitebark and limber pine restoration strategy. Sub-projects could stand alone or multiple aspects could be combined into a single project:

(1) Survey recent natural wildland fires for natural regeneration of whitebark pine.

(2) Study natural presence of rust-resistance of whitebark pine or limber pine to white pine blister rust.

(3) Assess status of limber pine, current threats to the species, and develop a restoration strategy for this species, which like whitebark pine, has suffered from white pine blister rust.