Podistera eastwoodiae

Podistera eastwoodiae is endemic to the Rocky Mountains and primarily occurs in Colorado, but extends westward into the La Sal Mountains in Utah and south to northern New Mexico. It is rare in both Utah and New Mexico. This species occurs at high elevations, subalpine and alpine levels, and is found in wet meadows and fens. It is threatened by climate change and introduced mountain goats (in Utah).

This species is endemic to the Rocky Mountains, and is known from Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah (Kartesz 1999). It is known from 16 counties in Colorado, Lake, Pitkin, Costilla, Rio Blanco, San Juan, Gunnison, La Plata, Mesa, Saguache, Las Animas, Conejos, Dolores, Ouray, Garfield, Hinsdale, and Montezuma (University of Colorado Herbarium 1999 and Colorado State University Herbarium 1999). It is found in San Juan County, Utah (Welsh et al. 1993). Based on the 2018 global rank review, this species' extent of occurrence was calculated to be approximately 104,000 sq.km based on herbarium data from SEINet (2018).

This species had been ranked an S3S4 in Colorado based on 38 Colorado specimens at the CSU and CU Herbaria from 16 counties: Lake, Pitkin, Costilla, Rio Blanco, San Juan, Gunnison, La Plata, Mesa, Saguache, Las Animas, Conejos, Dolores, Ouray, Garfield, Hinsdale, Montezuma (University of Colorado Herbarium 1999 and Colorado State University Herbarium 1999). Now (2002) ranked S3. The NM NHP dropped this species from their tracking list as an S2? and they have no information at this time (pers. comm. Sara Gottlieb 1999 to Kim Fayette). This species is ranked an S1 in Utah and they have two records based on specimen data (pers. comm. Ben Franklin UTNHP 1999 to Kim Fayette).

The known threats to this species are climate change and introduced mountain goats (Alexander 2016). Podistera eastwoodiae is a subalpine, alpine species that occurs in wet meadows and is threatened by climate change in the form of drought and changes in snowfall regimes.