Public comments on draft plan to be accepted for 120 days; workshops planned
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today released a draft strategy for voluntary cooperation with landowners to recover 20 threatened or endangered species of plants and animals that occur within seasonal wetlands throughout California and southern Oregon. Click here for frequently asked questions.
"The Vernal Pool Ecosystem Recovery Plan will be a cooperative effort to partner with landowners in an entirely voluntary effort to restore vernal pools," said Steve Thompson, manager of the Service's California-Nevada Operations. "The plan will help restore these imperiled species, while enabling landowners to maintain compatible activities on their land.
"Partnerships with private landowners are the key to successful recovery of vernal pool species," Thompson added. "This plan will help us direct federal funding to landowners for protection and restoration of these species, and enable landowners to protect their own interests with conservation agreements. It should foster a win-win environment for both vernal pool species and landowners."
This draft recovery plan covers 33 species of plants and animals that occur exclusively or primarily within vernal pools or swales in California and southern Oregon. The 20 federally listed species include 10 endangered plants, five threatened plants, three endangered animals, and two threatened animals. The draft plan also outlines actions to conserve 13 other "species of concern."
The plan can be viewed or downloaded at http://pacific.fws.gov/ecoservices/endangered/recovery/vernal_pool/index.html
A 120-day public comment period begins today, and the Service will schedule workshops during this period. The final Recovery Plan is expected to be completed late in 2005.
Vernal pools are seasonal wetlands that occur in scattered foothill and valley complexes ranging from California's southern border into southern Oregon. The pools come to life when winter rains collect in shallow, impermeable basins. Numerous species of animals and plants have adapted to a pattern of winter filling and summer drying. In the spring, most vernal pools are easily identified by concentric circles of beautiful wildflowers. Animal species, including tiny shrimp, hatch and complete their life cycle in just a few weeks, then lay eggs in the drying mud to wait through the hot, dry summer until the next rainy season.
Vernal pools originally existed on 22 million acres of California and Oregon land. Urbanization, agriculture and fragmentation have destroyed 75 per cent of vernal pools. Habitat loss is the largest threat to the survival and recovery of vernal pool species.
The draft Recovery Plan focuses on 683,000 acres of the most important remaining vernal pool areas in 16 distinct regions.
This plan proposes a variety of strategies and partnerships with private landowners and local agencies to:
