Contacts
Tameka Dandridge 517-351-8315
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking volunteers for
help in locating known and new populations of Pitcher's thistle, a
rare dune plant listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species
Act. The Service will conduct a survey on Thursday, July 15, at Hoffmaster
State Park, in Muskegon, Michigan. Volunteers are asked to meet at 9:30 a.m.
at the Gillette Visitor's Center at the park.
The Pitcher's thistle is found only along the beaches
and grassland dunes of Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Huron. About 90 percent
of the 183 known Pitcher's thistle populations occur in Michigan, most
of them along the northern Lake Michigan shoreline. It colonizes patches
of open, windblown areas, and then gradually declines as the density of vegetation
and ground litter increase over time. The species is threatened by destruction
of its beach habitat.
Pitchers thistle is among a group of plants and animals --
including the threatened dwarf lake iris and Houghtons goldenrod, the endangered
piping plover, and the rare Lake Huron locust and Lake Huron tansy -- found
along Great Lakes shorelines. These shores are highly desirable for prime
residential and resort sites and for recreation. Development and other activities
have destroyed, altered or disturbed shoreline areas and resulted in declines
of shoreline species.
Public and private efforts to recover the Pitchers thistle
are already underway. State and federal agencies and private citizens in
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin are protecting and managing many
occupied sites. A Canadian team is in the process of developing a plan for
the protection of Pitchers thistle and its habitat in Ontario.
The Pitcher's thistle flowers only once in its lifetime,
generally after a 5- to 8-year juvenile stage. The stems and leaves of juveniles
and adults are bluish-green in color and covered with woolly-white hairs.
The flowering stems are up to 3 feet tall, with flowering heads of a cream
or pinkish color.
For more information on the Pitcher's thistle and the
survey at Hoffmaster State Park, contact Tameka Dandridge at the Service's
East Lansing Field Office at 517-351-8315.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal
agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife
and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American
people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge
System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small
wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national
fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services
field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the
Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally
significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands,
and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation
efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes
hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment
to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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