Ventura, Calif.— Thanks to a recent conservation agreement and other proactive measures, the San Fernando Valley spineflower, a plant endemic to southern California, is no longer at risk of becoming endangered in the foreseeable future. Consequently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has withdrawn a proposal to list the spineflower as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
In September 2017, the Service and Newhall Land and Farming Company completed a robust Candidate Conservation Agreement (CCA), which will conserve over 1,500 acres within Los Angeles and Ventura counties to support spineflower conservation, establish plants in new and existing sites, and contribute to long-term management of the species.
“This is a victory for proactive, partnership-driven conservation,” said Paul Souza, the Service’s Pacific Southwest Regional Director. “Listing a species under the Endangered Species Act is neither a goal nor a measure of success. Working together with state, local and private partners to avert the need to list saves taxpayer money, reduces the regulatory burden and ensures our wildlife thrive for future generations.”
On-the ground habitat conservation and management measures will increase the number and condition of San Fernando Valley spineflower populations by reducing threats to the species, permanently protecting important habitat within the species’ range, and doubling the existing number of spineflower populations.
San Fernando Valley spineflower will be planted across multiple sites within the conserved areas including two sites where the plant was historically known to occur, a new site that provides suitable habitat for the species, and within an existing population near Santa Clarita. These conservation actions will result in at least two new, self-sustaining spineflower populations across the range of the species.
The San Fernando Valley spineflower is a low-growing, herbaceous, annual plant in the buckwheat family and is typical of many winter-spring native annuals that occur in the Mediterranean climate of California. Its historical range is thought to extend from near Elizabeth Lake, south through the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, to near Santa Ana in Orange County.
The San Fernando Valley spineflower was proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act in 2016 as a result of threats to the species including habitat loss from proposed development, invasive non-native plants and animals, and potential impacts of climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.
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The Service remains committed to working closely with both public and private partners to ensure conservation of the San Fernando Valley spineflower in the future, and will evaluate both implementation and effectiveness of conservation measures over the next ten years.
The notice is available for public inspection in the Federal Register Reading Room today under docket no. FWS–R8–ES–2016–0078and will officially publish in the Federal Register on March 15, 2018. Frequently asked questions are available here.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For more information about our work and the people who make it happen, visithttp://www.fws.gov/ventura or connect with us via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.
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