External Affairs Program

Service Concludes Solano Grass Still Warrants ESA Protection

March 21, 2003

03-036

Contact: Jim Nickles,
916/414-6572, 916/501-6885(cell)

SERVICE CONCLUDES SOLANO GRASS
STILL WARRANTS ESA PROTECTION

The Endangered Species Act requires the Service to determine whether delisting petitions are warranted. To the maximum extent practicable, the Service has 90 days to make that determination. The Service considers the information provided in the petition as well as any other available information.

A species may be delisted for one of three reasons – extinction, recovery, or original data error.

The petition, submitted in February 1997 by Rob Gordon, executive director of the National Wilderness Institute, cited data error as the reason for delisting the species. The Service, however, has found no data suggesting that the plant was listed in error. There is also no information to show that Solano grass has recovered enough to be listed as threatened rather than endangered, or to be delisted.

According to the California Department of Fish and Game, the species is declining. The State of California has listed Solano grass as endangered since 1979.

"While we can find no basis for removing Solano grass from Endangered Species Act protection, the Fish and Wildlife Service remains committed to evaluating new information on listed species as it becomes available," said Steve Thompson, manager of the Service's California-Nevada Operations Office. "The Service is also committed to recovery and eventual delisting of this California native plant."

Solano grass (Tuctoria mucronata), also known as Crampton's tuctoria or Crampton's Orcutt grass, is a small, grayish-green annual grass, blooming from April to July. It produces stems and leaves covered with droplets of a sticky, aromatic, bitter-tasting secretion. Less than five inches long, the stems lie on the ground, turning up only at the tips.

Solano grass occurs in vernal pool complexes. Fewer than 10 percent of these rare ecosystems remain today in California, and destruction of vernal pools continues to pose a significant threat to the plants and animals whose survival depends upon them.

Historically, three populations of Solano grass have been known to exist: One has not been seen since 1993, when four individual plants were found. The second occurs on private lands and consists of 37 individual plants, last seen in 2000. The third occurs on a former Air Force facility that is being transferred to the Yolo County Parks Department. In 2000, several thousand plants were seen at this site.

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 Services manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource 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 governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid 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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Questions and Answers on the 90-Day Finding
on a Petition to Delist Solano Grass

Q. What is a 90-day finding on a petition to delist?

A. Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act requires that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service make a finding on whether a petition to list, delist, or reclassify a species contains substantial information to support the requested action. That finding is to be made within 90 days, to the maximum extent practicable, after receipt of the petition and is to be published in the Federal Register. Findings are based on information contained in the petition, supporting information submitted with the petition, and other information available to the Service at the time.

Q. What is meant by substantial information?

A. When the Service evaluates a petition for substantiality, it considers the adequacy and reliability of the information supporting the action advocated by the petition. A "substantial" finding indicates the Service has determined that adequate and reliable information has been presented or is available that would lead a reasonable person to believe the petitioned action may be warranted.

Q. What kinds of information are considered reliable?

A. Among the most reliable and credible sources are papers published in peer-reviewed
scientific literature. Information provided by individuals with demonstrated expertise in the relevant subject area is also generally considered reliable. Anecdotal information or information from sources without established records of subject matter experience and expertise must be strongly corroborated to be considered substantial. Potentially, even a publication based on peer-reviewed publications may be found not substantial if sufficient countervailing information is available.

Q. When is delisting warranted?

A. The Service may delist a species only if the best scientific and commercial data available substantiate that it is neither endangered nor threatened. One of three reasons must exist to delist the species: extinction, recovery, or original data error.