The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today it will not move to add two common grasses to the Federal list of threatened and endangered species because information submitted to the Service is not substantial to warrant such action.
The Service completed a review of Arizona brome (Bromus arizonicus), and nodding needlegrass (Nassella cernua) in response to two petitions filed in June 2002 by a private citizen. The grasses are found in California, Baja California, Mexico, and Arizona. The finding was published in today's Federal Register.
The petitions claim the two species are in decline and threatened by commercial, residential, and agricultural development, off-highway vehicle activity, energy development, cattle grazing, fires, military activities, introduction on nonnative plants, roadside herbicide use and mowing, and law enforcement activities along the border between the United States and Mexico.
The Service may list a species only if the best scientific and commercial data available substantiate that it is endangered or threatened. The available information indicates that the two grasses are widespread.
Arizona brome is an annual grass that occurs in California's San Joaquin Valley, the southern coast ranges, and Channel Islands of Southern California, Arizona, and Baja California, Mexico. Nodding needlegrass is a perennial grass found in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley, the Southern California coast ranges, and in Baja California, Mexico.
More information on todays action ? including questions and answers ? is available on the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office's Web page at http://ventura.fws.gov.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 fishery resource offices, and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
