|
Holmgren’s milk-vetch is so finely adapted to its arid northern Mojave Desert environment that it’s often the only plant found alive atop special soils strewn with small stones and gravel deposits. Where other desert plants fail to grow, the Holmgren’s milk-vetch thrives. But with persistent encroachment by urban development, off-road vehicles, grazing, and invasive plant species, Holmgren’s becomes less and less able to eke out a living among the stones and gravels.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE
PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered
YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 2001
CRITICAL HABITAT: 6,289 acres in Washington County, Utah and Mohave County, Arizona designated in 2007
RECOVERY PLAN: 2006
RANGE: Three small populations in Washington County, Utah, and adjacent Mojave County, Arizona
THREATS: Urban development, off-road vehicles, livestock grazing, displacement by nonnative plants, and mining
POPULATION TREND: The plant is in decline.
|
SAVING THE HOLMGREN'S MILK-VETCH
In 1999, the Center and its allies petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list both the Holmgren’s milk-vetch and the Shivwitz milk-vetch as endangered species. As a result of Center involvement, both plants were listed as endangered in 2001, but critical habitat designation was indefinitely delayed. The Center stayed with the case, and in 2004 informed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service of its intent to sue the agency for its failure to designate critical habitat and develop a recovery plan for the milk-vetches.
In 2006, after much involvement from the Center and its allies, U.S. Fish and Wildlife finally designated critical habitat and created a recovery plan for the Holmgren’s and Shivwitz milk-vetches. And in 2007, the agency drafted a five-year review for both species.
ACTION TIMELINE
+ CAMPAIGN LINKS
NATURAL HISTORY
+ MEDIA
Contact: Ileene Anderson
|
ReneeVanBuren.jpg)