Point Reyes Light - April 3, 2003

Feds' delay may have led to plant's extinction

By Andrew Pridgen

One of West Marin’s endangered species of plants may have become extinct because of an apparent shortage of federal funds to protect it.

This month –three years after the Baker’s larkspur was listed as endangered – the US Fish and Wildlife Service finally designated its habitat, as well as the yellow larkspur’s, as "critical."

While it is possible to still see yellow larkspur along the shores of Tomales and Bodega bays and around the towns of Dillon Beach and Tomales, the Fish and Wildlife Service may have acted too late to save the Baker’s larkspur.

Last July, county-hired road crews mowing weeds beside the Marshall-Petaluma Road cut down 30 to 50 Baker’s larkspurs, and some scientists speculate the flower may now be extinct.

County needed data

County Public Works staff said this week they are "well aware" of the "sensitive nature of the flower," adding that once any county land is designated as "critical habitat," it immediately becomes part of an intricate database that workers routinely check.

"We enter the information we receive into global positioning systems, so when someone is out in the field, they can know exactly what they can do," said Liz Lewis, a creek naturalist for county government. "We also incorporate the areas into maps."

US Fish and Wildlife officials back in January of 2000 were notified that both species of plants were endangered. However, because of budgetary constraints, departmental staff waited until this month to designate the plants’ 4,300 acres of habitat in Marin and Sonoma counties as "critical."

When the federal government failed for two years to designate the habitat for both flowers as "critical," the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against Fish and Wildlife in 2002. This month’s designation of "critical habitat" is believed to have been prompted by the lawsuit.

Are they really extinct?

Now, botanists are waiting to see if any Baker’s larkspurs reappear. They believe the plant has been eliminated from Coleman Valley near the town of Tomales. The number of plants in their only other known habitat, which is east of Tomales Bay, has varied from zero to 67 during the past 20 years, the US Fish and Wildlife told the press.

"We’re not quite sure if any are left," Jim Nickles, spokesman for Fish and Wildlife, told The Light this week. "The information is based on a lot of different sources. The California Native Plant Society went out to survey for this plant and didn’t find any awhile back, but years later they did see some.

"The seeds could still be there. They could come back later on. We’ll have to wait and see."

The flowers are native, perennial herbs in the buttercup family. Their blossoms are irregular in shape. The Baker’s larkspur has dark-blue-and-purple flowers. The yellow larkspur is aptly named for its blossoms’ bright-gold hue.

Point Reyes Light Cover | News | Coastal Traveler