Dames & Moore, 1999 - USDA Forest Service

Creek drainage, they are more common east of this site in Washington. California bighorn sheep are not
found near the Site. The closest bighorn sheep population is located about 20 miles south of the Site
(personal communication with Mallory Lenz, USFS, 1997).
The Washington Natural Heritage Program identitied no records of rare plants or high quality ecosystems
near the Site. However, two rock ferns which are state sensitive, Pellaea breweri (Brewefs cliffbrake) and
Ctyptogramma stelleri (Steller's rockbrake), grow about three miles from the Site (letter dated August 13,
1997, from the Washington Natural Heritage Program, attached as Appendix P).
The following USFS sensitive plant species are found about 3/4 mile away from the Site:
Epipactis gigantea Giant Helleborine
Githopsis specularioides Common Bluecup
Pellaea brachypera Sierra Cliff-Brake (blackish wire stipes)
Spiranthes romanzofiana var. porrifolia Western Ladies-Tresses
USFS Protection Buffer Species which may be present include:
Great Gtey Owl
Black-backed Woodpecker
White-headed Woodpecker
Pygmy Nuthatch
Flammulated Owl
4.6.3.3 Survey and Manage Component 2 and Protection Buffer Species
Survey and manage component 2 and protection buffer species which could potentially be found in the
Railroad Creek watershed and the Holden Mine Site include salamanders, mollusks, fungus, non-vascular,
and vascular plant species. The majority of these species are usually found in the moist forests of the
western Cascades or Olympic Mountains. Although the Railroad Creek watershed is located on the east
side of the Cascades, the east-west orientation of the drainage creates microclimate extremes on the steep
sided north-facing and south-facing slopes on either side of the valley. In the moist riparian area of
Railroad Creek and the north-facing slope where the Holden Mine is located, moist microhabitats contain
plant species and microclimatic conditions similar to those found in wet western Washington forests.
Therefore, potential habitat for many of these survey and manage species is present at the Holden Mine
Site even though the site is beyond the suspected range for most of these species.
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