Ten Years of testing indigenous plant material on drastically disturbed land in western Montana. Winslow, Susan^*,1, Majerus, Mark¹, Marty, Leslie², Majerus, Shannon¹, ¹ USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Center, Bridger, Montana, USA² HC 48 Box 1140, Roberts, Montana

ABSTRACT- The Development of Acid/Heavy-Metal Tolerant Germplasm Project began in 1995 to assemble and evaluate native indigenous plant material from areas heavily impacted by historic mining activities in western Montana. The Deer Lodge Valley Conservation District, in cooperation with the USDA-NRCS Bridger Plant Materials Center, has conducted this project on grant monies administered by state and federal agencies responsible for the remediation and cleanup of the EPA Upper Clark Fork River Basin Superfund Site. Seven field studies have compared more than 500 local and non-local seed and plant collections in approximately 1,900 plots. Site preparation has consisted of deep plowing to dilute surface contamination or amending with lime and deep plowing to raise pH levels. The Woody Comparative Evaluation Planting, established in 2000, contains 19 accessions of seven native shrub and tree species. Top performers of the indigenous ecotypes are common snowberry, ponderosa pine, silver buffaloberry, wax currant, and Woods rose. At the deep-plowed and lime-amended site on Stuckey Ridge, 87 accessions of grasses, forbs, and shrubs, including two mixes each of indigenous and non-indigenous material, were planted in 2003. Superior performing indigenous species include basin wildrye, bluebunch wheatgrass, big bluegrass, slender wheatgrass, western wheatgrass, and silverleaf phacelia. This project has made available three Pre-varietal releases to the commercial seed industry: Washoe Selected class germplasm basin wildrye, Prospectors Selected class germplasm common snowberry, and Old Works Source Identified germplasm fuzzytongue penstemon. Certified seed production fields of Washoe and Old Works have been established in Montana, Idaho, and Washington.

KEY WORDS: acid and heavy-metal tolerant, native species, indigenous ecotypes