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c <br /> Will iarri F . Jennings <br /> 360 Martin Dr . <br /> Boulder , Colorado 80303 <br /> 303-494-5159 <br /> July 25, 1986 <br /> Dick Antonio <br /> Open Space Agricultural Manager <br /> Real Estate Services/Open Space <br /> 1405 S. Foothills Hwy <br /> Boulder , Colorado 80303 <br /> Dear Dick : <br /> This letter is to inform you of the existence of a substantial <br /> population of the rare and endangered native orchid Spiranthes <br /> diluvialis . The population lies on both sides of the Denver/Boulder <br /> Turnpike (US 36) , west of the crossing of South Boulder Creek . As one <br /> approaches Boulder , this is the last open area before reaching the city <br /> proper at the South Boulder Road/Table Mesa Drive interchange. I <br /> counted hundreds of plants in the colony, which is now in full bloom. <br /> Spiranthes diluvialis is an extremely rare orchid in Colorado. <br /> Other than the plants observed on the South Boulder Creek floodplain, <br /> there are only two sites known in modern times in Colorado: along the <br /> south side of Clear Creek in Prospect Park in Wheat Ridge and along the <br /> north side of Clear Creek at the mouth of Clear Creek Canyon , at the <br /> extreme west edge of Golden, both in Jefferson County. Most of the <br /> Clear Creek floodplain has been quarried for sand and gravel or <br /> developed, so these sites are quite small and unique, without large <br /> populations of plants. The Boulder County site is definitely the <br /> largest population of the three. <br /> It is possible that the orchid was once present in other areas in <br /> the Front Range corridor. A reference by P.A. Rydberg in his Flora of <br /> Colorado ( 1906) to the existence of Spiranthes porrifolia at "Camp <br /> Harding, near Pikes Peak , " which was near the Broadmoor , is probably S . <br /> diluvialis , although the specimen has never been located. A collection <br /> by Henry Engelmann in September , 1856, along the "South Fork of the <br /> Platte, " probably somewhere between Greeley and Brush, based on the <br /> journals of his expedition, may also be S. diluvialis . <br /> The orchid is currently listed by the Colorado Department of <br /> Natural Resources , Natural Areas Program on their list of "Plant Species <br /> of Special Concern. " The list also identifies S. diluvialis as a <br /> "category 2" plant . That is , notice of review as a threatened or <br /> endangered plant has been published in the Federal Register , and the <br />