Plant Species of the Deep Creek Mountains

Botanical inventories are useful for gathering objective knowledge about plant species, variety and abundance for a wide range of cultural, scientific, and educational purposes. Typical uses of inventories include land use planning, preparing wildlife habitat and grazing plans, environmental assessments (EAs), use in schools and historical documentation. Inventories are also important because they provide data on the distribution and condition of special status species.

Special status plants are species that are normally considered rare and threatened by some type of cultural activity. Plants considered to be of special status include the following: 1) proposed species - species that have been officially proposed for listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act by the Secretary of the Interior, 2) listed species - species officially listed as threatened or endangered by the Secretary of the Interior under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act, 3) candidate species - species designated as candidates for listing as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 4) state listed species - species listed by a state in a category implying but not limited to potential endangerment or extinction, and 5) sensitive species are those species designated by a State Director, usually in cooperation with the state agency responsible for managing the species and state Natural Heritage programs, as sensitive.