The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has drafted a recovery plan for a rare native flower, the Pecos sunflower. The showy plant survives in less than two dozen known locations in the desert wetlands of New Mexico and west Texas.
Comments will be accepted on the draft plan until August 2, 2004. After all comments are considered and changes made, the Service will issue a final recovery plan that will be used by federal agencies and others who voluntarily undertake recovery actions.
The plant was added to the list of threatened and endangered plants in 1999. Recovery plans identify specific, voluntary actions that will help recover the plant so it may be removed from the list of threatened and endangered species. Objectives and criteria for delisting a species are spelled out. In addition, the plant's status and current management practices are noted.
"After we incorporate comments, the recovery plan will be finalized and shared with other federal, state, tribal and local governmental agencies as best management practices for conserving the Pecos sunflower," said Dale Hall, Director of the Service's Southwest Region.
While somewhat similar in appearance to the common sunflower which prefers dry soils, the Pecos sunflower has a cluster of several smaller flowers at the tip which are slightly reddish in color. The sunflower only grows in saturated soils such as desert wetlands (cienegas) so its habitat is very limited. The flower's survival is vulnerable due to aquifer depletions, diversions of surface water, filling wetlands for conversion to dry land, and potential competition with nonnative invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species . Seed dispersal is also restricted because of the distance from one wetland to another. Surveys have found the sunflower in Pecos and Reeves Counties in Texas and Chaves, Cibola, Guadalupe, Socorro and Valencia Counties in New Mexico.
Recovery activities designed to achieve these objectives include identifying and securing core locations essential for the long-term survival of this species, continuing life history, population, and habitat studies, and ensuring compliance with existing regulations. The species is present on federal, state, tribal, and private lands in New Mexico and Texas. Pursuing voluntary conservation opportunities with landowners is a high priority.
The recovery plan is available on the internet at http://ifw2es.fws.gov/Mexico. To obtain a paper copy of the draft, contact Rawles Williams at 800-299-0196 or by writing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office, 2105 Osuna NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87113. Comments should be mailed to the address above or could be sent via facsimile to 505-346-2542.
