| Section six: native plant conservation |
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| Introduction |
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Native plant conservation program staff
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The State Native Plant Conservation Program (NPCP), in the ODA Plant Division, emphasizes conservation and protection of naturally occurring plant species in Oregon. Developed in 1987, the NPCP focuses on (1) developing conservation plans for state-protected species; (2) reviewing research and commercial activities associated with listed species on state lands; (3) providing support to state and local agencies (and the general public) in dealing with native plant protection issues required by federal and state law; and (4) reviewing and commenting on federal regulations regarding listing and conservation decisions for Oregon plants under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
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| Adjusting the state endangered species list |
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ODA is charged with investigating the conservation status of native plants in Oregon. Those that face the clearest threats are eligible for listing as threatened or endangered under Oregon law. The first 19 listings were completed in 1989, and included the most imperiled native plant species in the state. A second wave of listings in 1995, supported by investigative work at ODA, OSU, and elsewhere, pushed the number of protected plant species to 61. Since then, steady progress towards recovery has been made and the total is slowly coming down. The latest adjustment to the list is expected in 2007, based in part on ODA staff surveys and research during the 2006 field season. While the final decisions have yet to be made, four to six species, including the pumice grapefern (Botrychium pumicola) of central Oregon and Davis’ pepperweed (Lepidium davisii) of Malheur County and nearby Idaho, may be coming off the list due to factors such as increased habitat protection and the discovery of new populations. On a less positive note, two or three species may be added to the list, including the recently named disappearing monkeyflower (Mimulus evanescens) from the Oregon Great Basin, and the redroot yampah (Perideridia erythrorhiza), a parsnip relative known from a handful of sites in southern Oregon. Our estimation is that after the changes sort out, the list will have declined once again in 2007. Whether this trend continues depends on many issues, but recovery work by ODA, state and federal agencies, and a host of other concerned Oregonians suggests that many species on the protected lists are now receiving badly needed conservation attention.
Davis’ peppergrass, shown here growing on an alkaline playa at the Palomino Lake Research Natural Area in southeast Oregon, may be one of the species coming off the state threatened list in 2007, based on field surveys in Oregon and Idaho over the past year.
Chart: Species totals since initial listings in 1989
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| Cooperative research with OSU |
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Woolly meadowfoam in cultivation in NPCP greenhouses
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Ongoing joint research with OSU was continued in 2006, as the NPCP maintained its office and lab space in Corvallis. This cooperative relationship remains an invaluable link for plant conservation efforts in Oregon, providing ODA with access to facilities, professional collaborations, and graduate student assistance that would be unavailable elsewhere. Much of this work is used in making assessments of the status of species currently listed, or being considered for listing, under state or federal law. Several projects being conducted with OSU graduate student researchers were initiated or continued in 2006, focusing on species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. Included was work by doctoral student Stephen Meyers, who is investigating the genetics and population biology of several wild meadowfoam populations (the Limnanthes floccosa species group) native to very limited areas in Jackson County. The genetic contributions of wild forms of meadowfoam, an important alternative crop in the Willamette Valley and elsewhere, are important to the ongoing breeding program being conducted by the Meadowfoam Research Group at OSU. Protecting the remaining native populations of the species may have far reaching benefits for one of Oregon’s most unique crop plants.
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| Cross state collaboration |
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WA DNR biologists, ODA NPCP staff, and US Bureau of Reclam.
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Using seeds provided by the Washington Department of Natural Resources, ODA is embarking on a joint project with the State of Washington to recreate habitat for the northern wormwood (Artemisia campestris var. wormskioldii), a rare species found today only along the Columbia River. Once believed plentiful along the eastern end of the gorge, and possibly one of the species sighted by Lewis and Clark as they camped along the mid-Columbia, the northern wormwood is known today from only two small populations in Washington state. Work by ODA has demonstrated that seeds of the species are readily germinated, and, with the assistance of the Washington DNR, efforts were initiated in 2006 to develop a nursery program for the species that may allow it to eventually be planted out in native habitat owned by the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation. Successfully re-establishing the species in Oregon may help prevent its listing under the federal Endangered Species Act, and will return to Oregon a species presently believed extinct in the state.
2006 also laid the groundwork for joint reviews of listed species with Idaho and California in 2007. The NPCP program leader will participate in and deliver a keynote address at an Idaho conservation conference in Boise. ODA will also work with the California Department of Fish and Game to further evaluate the conservation status of Oregon’s federally-listed Gentner’s Fritillary (Fritillaria gentneri), an unusual lily relative (with considerable horticultural potential) recently located in northern California.
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| Watershed health |
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Measure 66 lottery funds were received in 2006 for use in native plant and vegetation restoration projects in several areas of Oregon.
- ODA wrapped up a cooperative project including BLM, USFWS, and others in Douglas County east of Wilbur, focusing on weed management, grazing, native plant restoration efforts, and hydrologic modifications designed to improve and maintain sensitive habitats in the North Umpqua watershed.
- A series of upland rehabilitation projects in partnership with the City of Jacksonville, BLM, the Herbert Stone Nursery (US Forest Service), and OSU, were completed that will reduce or eliminate extensive weed populations (and replacing them with native shrubs, forbs, and grasses), with the intent of improving the overall condition of selected slopes along the Jackson Creek drainage.
- The NPCP started a baseline study, funded by the Roseburg BLM District, to establish control techniques for pennyroyal (mint family), a recently introduced, aggressive weed invading western Oregon wetlands and marshes.
- Program botanists continued restoration efforts for native semaphore grass populations, a rare meadow grass with forage potential. This is part of a cooperative partnership with the Burns Paiute Tribe, the BLM, and USFWS.
- Also completed was a cooperative project to collect and cultivate seed and bulbs of several native species for restoration efforts in various state watersheds. Areas where these plant materials will be used include Jackson County (Jackson Creek watershed); Baker County (Powder River Valley); Josephine County (Illinois River drainage); and Deschutes County (lodgepole pine forests south of La Pine).
Native wildflowers and grasses return to areas in northern Baker County in response to ODA-sponsored restoration programs.
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| Joint conservation projects |
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Seventeen additional cooperative projects were conducted in 2006, covering 12 Oregon counties, with a total of 212 major plant conservation initiatives now completed or in progress since the inception of the program in early 1988. NPCP staff worked directly with federal and state agencies, universities, and private organizations on a wide range of field-oriented and other conservation ventures. These projects, largely supported through external grants, provide important opportunities to improve state plant conservation efforts in many areas, and allow ODA to provide management input for endangered species on federal as well as state lands. Notable was the renewal of the Section 6 agreement between ODA and the federal government, which under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act, greatly facilitates recovery actions and status evaluations of federally-protected species in Oregon by ODA staff. Projects that were continued or initiated in 2006 included:
- Continuing work with ODOT to develop a management plan for Cook’s desert parsley, a federally protected species occurring along state and county highways in Josephine County.
- Evaluating habitat quality for several important native species in the Cave Junction-Eight Dollar Mountain area of Josephine County.
- Initiating a multi-year habitat and species rehabilitant project with state and federal agencies in two areas adjacent to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Harney County.
- Completion of the first draft of a management plan for the City of Sutherlin, to assist them with issues surrounding the protection of populations and habitat for the federally endangered rough popcornflower
- Continuation of federally-sponsored management plan for Willamette Valley listed plant species (to be completed in 2007)
ODA botanists gather species and habitat data, to be used in developing management plans for serpentine grassland sites in open pine woodlands of southwest Oregon near the California border.
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