Fortynine Meadows

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CONSERVATION STATUS AND THREATS

Public Access: Yes

Conservation status: State/Province/Regional Protection

Adjacent Land Use: Upland Forest/Woodland

Approximate natural buffer width: > 100 ft

Is there any other information that should be conveyed regarding your nomination of this wetland? https://idahonativeplants.org/erig/49_Meadows_full.pdf

GENERAL INFORMATION

Criteria:

• Protects biological diverse wetland flora, fauna and/or their habitat
• Rare or unique wetland type within its own biogeographical region. (Meeting this criteria would include, but is not limited to, wetlands with unique hydrology or chemistry that make it rare within its own region)

Fortynine Meadows is a 391-acre subalpine peatland at 4,920 ft. elevation, consisting of forested, scrub-shrub and herbaceous plant community classes. The site is located in Idaho's Panhandle National Forest, on Meadow Creek and Little North Fork Clearwater River near Breezy Saddle, 15 mi. S. of Avery, ID. The wetland type, subalpine peatlands, is considered rare in Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. This remote, relatively intact wetland provides a stable foundation for a variety of uncommon flora and fauna species, including bull trout, firethread sedge and sphagnum mosses.

Exemplary Ecosystem Services:

• Maintains ecological connectivity/cohesion
• Aesthetic/cultural heritage value/ provisioning
• Carbon storage
• Education

ECOLOGY

Approximate size: 158 ha

General wetland characterization: Inland Fresh Bog

Adjacent Water Bod(ies):

• Pond
• Stream

Name of body of water: Meadow Creek / Little N. Fork Clearwater River

FLORA AND FAUNA

Dominant flora: firethread sedge (Carex prionophylla), sphagnum mosses

Unique flora: Kalmia microphylla, Caltha biflora, Drosera rotundifolium, ...

Dominant fauna: 27 species of macroinvertebrates recorded

Rare fauna: bull trout (Savelinus confluentus)