Determination of Endangered Status for Sidalcea keckii (Keck's checker-mallow) From Fresno and Tulare Counties, CA

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), determine endangered status for Sidalcea keckii (Keck's checker-mallow) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as amended. This annual plant is known from serpentine-derived clay soils in the foothill annual grasslands of the central western Sierra Nevada Mountains. The plant is threatened by agricultural land conversion, urbanization, grazing, and extirpation from naturally occurring random events due to the small number and size of its two populations. This rule implements the Federal protection provisions afforded by the Act for this plant species.