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Environmental Law

: ESA Blawg

Hawaiian vine listed as endangered, and FWS reviewing new information on slickspot peppergrass

By Keith Rizzardi

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74 Fed. Reg. 11319 (Tuesday, March 17, 2009) / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Listing Phyllostegia hispida (No Common Name) as Endangered Throughout Its Range / ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), determine endangered status under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), for Phyllostegia hispida (no common name), a plant species from the island of Molokai in the Hawaiian Islands. This final rule implements the Federal protections provided by the Act for this species. We have also determined that critical habitat for P. hispida is prudent but not determinable at this time.

Phyllostegia hispida is known only from the island of Molokai, Hawaii, where 24 wild and 214 outplanted individuals currently exist. A nonaromatic member of the mint family (Lamiaceae), P. hispida is a loosely spreading, many-branched vine that often forms large, tangled masses. Leaves are thin and flaccid with hispid hairs. The plant Phyllostegia hispida has only a few recorded occurrences and until recently was thought to be extinct in the wild. Alterations of the plant’s native habitat by feral pigs and nonnative plants have been the primary threats to P. hispida. See also AP story, photo and story from The Nature Conservancy.

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74 Fed. Reg. 11342 / Vol. 74, No. 50 / Tuesday, March 17, 2009DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Listing the Plant Lepidium papilliferum (Slickspot Peppergrass) as Endangered / ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of comment period and notice of document availability.

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of new information relevant to our consideration of the status of Lepidium papilliferum (slickspot peppergrass), proposed for listing as endangered, under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We, therefore, announce the reopening of the comment period on the proposed listing and invite interested members of the public to submit comments on this new information as it applies to the status and proposed listing of L. papilliferum. Information previously submitted for this proposed listing need not be resubmitted, as all information already received regarding this proposed listing will be incorporated into the public record and fully considered in our evaluation.

NOTEWORTHY EXCERPT: We ask for comments concerning the new information contained in the analyses of Lepidium papilliferum population trends on the Orchard Training Area in southwest Idaho (Sullivan and Nations 2009), on the rangewide Habitat Integrity and Population (HIP) monitoring (Unnasch 2008), a recent analysis of L. papilliferum data collected on the Inside Desert (Owyhee Plateau) from 2000 to 2002 (Wells and Popovich 2009), and GIS analysis of Lepidium papilliferum (Stoner 2009)... We have also specifically requested peer review of this new information and its relevance to the status of L. papilliferum from experts familiar with the species or its habitat;

SEE ALSO: ESA blawg postings about prior case history, clarification of court decision, andprior proposed rule in Federal Register

Full post as published by ESA Blawg on March 17, 2009 (boomark / email).