Abstract Detail

Conservation Biology

Magney, David [1].

Determining Locally Rare Plants in California: developing tools to conserve locally rare plants.

The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) has been the leader since the 1970s in identifying vascular plants that are rare in California, presented in its publication (originally in paper and now electronically) of the Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California (Inventory). The Inventory includes four basic lists or ranks: 1, 2, 3, and 4, with List 1 plants being rare and endangered and qualified to be listed under both the Federal and California Endangered Species Acts. List 4 includes those plants that are not endangered but are of conservation concern do to their limited distribution. But the Inventory ignores all the populations of California natives that are at the limits of their range within and outside California and those that are rare in portions of the state. CNPS is a conservation organization that is dedicated to protecting the California native flora, and the Inventory has been an extremely important and valuable tool to help conserve those plants that are rare statewide. However, it does not address locally rare plants. Since nearly all land use decisions in California are made at the local level by county or city governments, which have authority and responsibility for the botanical resources of their jurisdiction (through the General Plan Law), conservationists need a tool to conserve those plants that are rare within that jurisdiction. A former CNPS Board of Directors member back in the 1990s, Ann Dennis, noted that locally rare plants were being ignored, giving the example of a common plant, Acer macrophyllum, was represented by only one known population in San Diego County. This population represented the southernmost limits of this species’ range, at least in California, and warranted conservation. Out of this, several projects were initiated to identify plants that are rare in selected California counties, including Ventura, Alameda and Contra Costa, and Santa Barbara Counties, each using somewhat but similar criteria. CNPS is now formalizing this project with the formation of a Locally Rare Plants Committee tasked with assessing criteria to define what a locally rare plant is, developing methods and approaches to determining locally rare plant species, and then facilitating the development of lists of locally rare plants for every California county.

Related Links:
Locally rare plants of California

1 - P.O. Box 1539, P.O. Box 1539, P.O. Box 1539, Cedar Ridge, CA, 95924, United States

Keywords:
Rare plants
Locally rare
California biodiversity
California
rarity definitions.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P1, Conservation Biology Posters
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Monday, July 19th, 2021
Time: 5:00 PM(EDT)
Number: P1CB017
Abstract ID:1149
Candidate for Awards:None