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2 <br /> III. Purpose and Obiectives of this Conservation Agreement for Leslie Gulch <br /> A. The purpose of this agreement is to protect and ensure the <br /> conservation of three rare plant species, Senecio ertterae, <br /> Mentzelia packardiae, and Ivesia rhypara var. rhypara, and their <br /> habitat on BLM administered land in the Leslie Gulch ACEC in the <br /> Vale Oregon District. <br /> B. The objective of this agreement is to provide a means of <br /> protection and conservation of three rare plant species, Senecio <br /> ertterae, Mentzelia packardiae, and Ivesia rhypara var. rhypara, <br /> on lands in the Leslie Gulch ACEC through the mutual cooperation <br /> and commitment of all the parties involved. <br /> IV. Status and Distribution <br /> Leslie Gulch ACEC is located on the east side of the Owyhee Reservoir <br /> approximately 50 miles south of Vale. It is a diverse area containing <br /> spectacular geologic formations created by differential weathering of <br /> the Leslie Gulch ash -flow tuff. The ACEC is approximately seven miles <br /> wide and five miles long, with the major configuration of the area <br /> running in a band from east to west. Several tributaries to Leslie <br /> Gulch, most noteably Juniper Gulch, Slocum Creek and Dago Gulch, provide <br /> unusual soil types and unique land formations and are part of the ACEC. <br /> Except for a private 40 acre parcel at the junction of Dago Gulch with <br /> Leslie Gulch, the entire ACEC is administered by the BLM. <br /> Mentzelia packardiae, a Candidate 2 species, is known in Oregon only <br /> from the Leslie Gulch ACEC. A disjunct occurance has been reported from <br /> northern Nevada. It is an annual, restricted to the lower ash slopes <br /> throughout the ACEC. Fifteen individual locales have been identified as <br /> supporting discrete clusters of the species within the one population <br /> area along Leslie Gulch and several of its tributaries in the ACEC. <br /> Numbers of plants recorded yearly vary widely because of highly variable <br /> rainfall in this arid region. <br /> Senecio ertterae, a Candidate 1 species, grows only in the Leslie Gulch <br /> ACEC and at a disjunct population 14 miles southwest of the canyon at <br /> the Birch Creek ranch. The Leslie Gulch population consists 33 discrete <br /> locales. The Birch Creek population is known from two locales outside <br /> the scope of this agreement. An annual species, its yearly numbers <br /> fluctuate widely due to rainfall. It is restricted to greenish - yellow <br /> ash slopes in Leslie Gulch and its tributaries. This species and <br /> Mentzelia packardiae generally are found at the same locales, although <br /> rainfall and temperature regimes within a given year cause some <br /> variation in distribution and sympatric tendencies. <br /> Ivesia rhvpara var. rhypara, a Candidate 2 species, has been found on <br /> BLM land in the Lakeview District in Oregon and in two widely separated <br /> populations in northern Nevada. It is found at two populations within <br /> the Leslie Gulch ACEC, and in one population in the Honeycombs <br />