Development of Acid/Heavy Metal-Tolerant Cultivars
Leslie Marty, Deer Lodge Valley
Conservation District
in cooperation with
NRCS Bridger Plant Materials Center
Route 2, Box 1189, Bridger, MT 59014.
(406) 662-3579.
Current
reclamation efforts to revegetate hardrock minelands in western Montana have met
with limited success.
In the Upper Clark Fork River Basin, for example, there remains vast
areas of barren and unproductive land.
The majority of native species currently being seeded on hardrock mine
reclamation projects were developed for revegetaion of coal strip-mines in the
dry, high pH soils of eastern Montana.
This plant material is not well adapted to the acid/metalliferous soils
and local climatic conditions found at hardrock mine sites.
The Development of Acid/Heavy Metal-Tolerant Cultivars project seeks to
address this problem by selecting plant ecotypes indigenous to western Montana
that demonstrate superior tolerance to acid/heavy metal soil conditions.
In 1995, two initial evaluation plantings were constructed on the
Anaconda Smelter Superfund Site.
Plant materials in this study were assembled from both wildland
collections and commercial seed sources.
The plots collectively tested 95 species consisting of 51 grass, 29 forb,
14 shrub, and 1 tree species.
After three growing seasons, the superior performing entries were
identified.
These better performing collections are presently being tested and
compared to other accessions and cultivars of the same species in a comparative
evaluation planting (CEP) near Anaconda.
Concurrently, 13 grass, 6 forb, and 7 shrub species are being grown at
the Bridger Plant Material Center (BPMC) to determine cultural management
techniques and to increase the supply of seed.
The results from the CEP and the success of seed production will provide
valuable information for the selection of locally indigenous plant materials.
Formal plant release will be via the pre-varietal process as Selected
Class material.
Foundation seed for the releases will be maintained at the BPMC for
distribution through the Montana and Wyoming Crop Improvement Associations to
commercial seed producers.
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