THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO AID IN CONSERVING AND PROTECTING PLANT BIODIVERSITY, SPECIFICALLY FEDERALLYTHREATENED MIRABILIS MACFARLANEI (MIMA). PREVIOUSLY FUNDED RESEARCH BY THE IDAHO BUREAU OF LANDMANAGEMENT (BLM) HAS ALLOWED US TO DEVELOP A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL MICROPROPAGATION PROCEDURE FORMIMA. USING MICROPROPAGATION, CLONES OF TWO MIMA GENOTYPES (ONE FROM THE SKOOKUMCHUCKPOPULATION AND ONE FROM LONG GULCH) WILL BE PRODUCED. THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT RATES OF COMMON RANGEHERBICIDES (MILESTONE, PLATEAU AND TRANSLINE) ON INVASIVE WEEDS (YELLOW STARTHISTLE AND CHEAT GRASS)AND MIMA WILL BE DETERMINED BY MEASURING PLANT MORTALITY, APPEARANCE, AVERAGE PLANT CANOPY DIAMETER,LONGEST SHOOT AND SHOOT DRY WEIGHT.EXPECTED OUTCOMES INCLUDE DATA ON SUSCEPTIBILITY OF CONTAINER GROWN MIMA PLANTS TO EACH HERBICIDEWHICH CAN THEN BE USED TO EVALUATE THE FEASIBILITY USING THESE HERBICIDES FOR WEED CONTROL IN NATURALMIMA POPULATIONS. THE KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM THESE HERBICIDE TRIALS CAN BE USED BOTH TO BETTER MANAGENATIVE POPULATIONS OF MIMA AND PROVIDE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY GROW MIMA(USING CONTAINER PRODUCTION) FOR RESTORATION