A FLORISTIC SURVEY OF EIGHT COAL SITES IN THE DECKER, MONTANA-SHERIDAN, WYOMING AREA,* Don Brink Department of Botany, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801 and Lillian M. Mayer Peter Kiewit Sons' Co,, Mining District, P. 0. Box 746, Sheridan, Wyoming 82801 Abstract: A floristic survey of proposed, operational, and abandoned coal strip mine sites resulted in an annotated checklist of 407 vascular plant species in 236 genera and 63 families. Habitat and occurrence (i,e, Montana and/or Wyoming) of each species is included. The checklist is prefaced by a characterization of climate, topography, and major plant community t5T>es, A floristic survey of three study sites in Sheridan County, Wyoming and five sites in Big Horn County, Montana (Fig. 1) was conducted in spring and summer of 1976 and 1977, while the authors were employed by Peter Kiewit Sons' Co., Mining Reclamation Department, Sheridan, Wyoming, These study sites are in and around proposed, operational, and abandoned coal strip mine areas. All of the study sites are located in the Tongue River drainage. This river flows northeast from the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming and along the northwestern border of the Powder River Basin toward its confluence with the Yellowstone River at Miles City, Montana, The southern-most study site at Acme, Wyoming is located seven miles north of Sheridan, Wyoming at the confluence of Tongue River and Big Goose Creek, Of the eight study sites, two contain only intermittent watercourses, one contains a perennial creek, and the other five border the Tongue River. Occasional low-lying areas along the river support riparian woodland with a canopy of Populus deltoides Marsh,, Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh. , and Acer negundo L. Understories are variable. Although many plant species are found in riparian situations (riparian woodlands, open places along watercourses, freshwater marshes, and temporary ponds), these habitat types represent a very small portion of the study areas. * We are grateful to Peter Kiewit Sons' Co., Mining Reclamation Department for supporting this study. U83
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