Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: Several Imperiled Plants Receive New Listing and Habitat Protection under the Federal Endangered Species Act.

September 21, 2016

 

Several imperiled plants have improved chances for recovery due to Endangered Species Act actions in the past two months:

• On September 9, 2016, USFWS proposed to list the Guadalupe fescue (Festuca ligulata)—a plant species from the Chihuahuan Desert of west Texas and Mexico—as an endangered species.

• As of August 17, Slickspot peppergrass, a plant that lives on about 60,000 acres of sagebrush-steppe habitat in southwestern Idaho, will once again be considered a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The plant's listing had been challenged by Gov. Butch Otter (R-ID). Read more in AgriPulse.

• On September 13, 2016, USFWS issued a final rule listing the white fringeless orchid (Platanthera integrilabia) as threatened. The species is found in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee. This plant was protected as part of a landmark legal settlement with environmental and scientific groups to spur protection decisions for 757 imperiled animals and plants around the country.   Read the Orchid Press Release

• On August 17, the Fish and Wildlife Service designated about 36,000 acres of critical habitat to protect two Arizona cactus species: the Fickeisen Plains cactus in Coconino and Mohave counties and the Acuña cactus in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties. Read more in the Arizona Republic

• As part of a $45 million endangered species grant program announced September 15, the state of California will receive $1 million under the Recovery Land Acquisition Grants Program to protect 240 acres of pebble plain habitat. This land acquisition will promote the recovery of several endemic plant species, including the federally-listed Bear Valley sandwort, ash-gray Indian paintbrush and southern mountain buckwheat. For a complete list of FY 2016 projects, which are funded in part by the embattled Land and Water Conservation Fund, visit: https://www.fws.gov/endangered/grants/index.html.

Despite this progress, plants staill lag far behind animals in funding staffing and legal protection under the Endangered Species Act and other laws. The NPCC's Equal Protection for Plants Program advocates for equal protection for plants under all conservation laws and programs. Your organization can support this effort with a SIGN ON to the Equal Protection for Plants statement. (ORGANIZATIONS ONLY PLEASE. This is not an individual sign on letter)