Page 20 - Black Range Naturalist, Vol. 2, No. 2

Post Silver Fire Distribution of Metcalfe’s Penstemon (2014)
growing in cool, shady areas, underneath the canopy of mixed conifer forests and along stream banks, the species may not persist over time in the majority of documented sites on the Gila National Forest, due to radical habitat alterations caused by the Silver Fire. Because of its extreme rarity and alterations to all of the known habitat, inventories to document the actual distribution and abundance of this species and close monitoring to determine population trends of this species are highly recommended. Seed banking should be considered to maintain an ex-situ collection, in the event that reintroduction will become necessary in the future.”
These extracts do not capture the full extent of the research and documentation which went into the report, and we encourage you to follow the link at the beginning of this article so that you can review the work in its entirety.
This report was prepared for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and portions are reprinted here with the permission of that agency and the author.
And a Bit More:
In private correspondence on December 27, 2018, between Bob Barnes and Daniela Roth, she noted: “I went back into Railroad Canyon (and other sites) this past summer to find out how plants are doing 5 years post-fire, considering the significant alterations to their habitat. One site, the northernmost site in Railroad Canyon, contained 100 – 200 plants in 2014, had 6 plants in 2018. Very disconcerting.
Unfortunately we have no abundance data for any of the sites prior to the fire, but I suspect that the species might be more rare than previously thought. I am now evaluating the species for State Endangered listing. Might have to do that for Penstemon metcalfei as well. Since these 2 plant species are so very rare and perhaps are in decline due to the Silver Fire, I would greatly appreciate if you could keep an eye out for them, wherever you go in the Black Range during the late summer months. More likely than not there are other, previously undocumented populations out there somewhere. If you find them please take a photo, note the location, and provide a count estimate. I did relocate the populations below the Lower Gallinas campground last summer (unburned). Previous site descriptions were vague, but there were enough collections from the area that I figured it had to be somewhere along the rock faces on the other side of Iron Creek, which was flooding during my 2014 surveys and I could not get across. This past summer the creek was dry and I could find these (very sparse) populations along the trail on the other side of the creek.”
Other sources of information:
Scrophularia macrantha
Vascular Plants of the Gila Wilderness
The Black Range Website (www.blackrange3.org) New Mexico Rare Plants
Denver Botanic Gardens
Penstemon metcalfei
Vascular Plants of the Gila Wilderness
New Mexico Rare Plants
First described by Wooton & Standley in 1909 see following page.
See Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 21-23 of this newsletter for information about Metcalfe.
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