The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today extended the protection of the Endangered Species Act to a pair of rare plants found only near the border between southern Utah and northern Arizona.
The Holmgren milk-vetch (Astragalus holmgreniorum) and the Shivwits milk-vetch (Astragalus ampullariodes) are being listed as endangered under Act, meaning they are at risk of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of their range.
Both of these perennials, belonging to the pea family, have small remaining populations. The Holmgren population varies from 5,000 to 10,000 plants depending upon rainfall and is native to Washington County, Utah and adjacent Mojave County, Arizona, near the city of St. George, Utah. The Shivwits, numbering less than 1,000 plants, grows only in southern Washington County.Both species grow on state and private land, as well as land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The Shivwits is also found on the Shivwits Reservation of the Paiute Tribe.
The numbers of individuals of both plants are rapidly decreasing due primarily to rapid urban expansion and population growth in the St. George area, where much of the plants
