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Kass rockcress
Draba kassii
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G2
State (S-rank): S3
External links
Species range
Export from Utah Rare Plant database 12/11/2019. Geocat: 41 occs found: Extent of Occurrence: 108.997 km2. Found in Tooele and Juab Counties, Utah
Threats or limiting factors
There are some grandfathered mining leases near known occurrences, but most plants within designated wilderness. Hard rock mining is a potential threat to Kass's Rockcress (Hardy, pers. comm. 2005 cited by Franklin 2005). Due to where plants grow, cattle and sheep grazing is not an issue. Threats would increase in mountain goats or sheep are released in Deep Creeks. Browsing by introduced mountain goats (which are not historically native to Utah) or bighorn sheep (native to Utah, but may be reintroduced in the Deep Creek Range) is a threat. Mountain goats use cliffs as essential habitat, and during the summer browse on plants found there (Alexander 2016, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources 2018). If mountain goat foraging impacts are shown to be excessive (based on monitoring), goat populations can be managed to reduce impacts on browsed plants (Utah Division of Wildlife Resources 2018).
