[PCA] Center for Plant Conservation Project to Assess Federally Listed Species

[Bruce.Rittenhouse at mobot.org]

Olivia

Could you please put the following message out on the PCA list-serve.
Thanks.

CENTER FOR PLANT CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT OF FEDERALLY LISTED AND CANDIDATE
SPECIES ON PUBLIC LANDS

The Center for Plant Conservation (CPC), its member institutions and several
partners are embarking on an ambitious project to conduct a comprehensive
assessment of almost 900 plant species currently listed as threatened,
endangered, proposed or candidate species under the Endangered Species Act
(ESA).  The national office of CPC will partner with participating
institutions of CPC, NatureServe, state Natural Heritage programs, and
cooperating federal agencies.  

This study will contribute significantly to the current understanding of the
status of imperiled plant species and their potential for recovery across
federal lands.  Results of this study will provide federal agencies with a
clearer understanding of the number and condition of populations of
imperiled species on lands they manage and the relative contribution to
total recovery that could be made through conservation and restoration
efforts for these populations and species.  

This study will not involve any collection of new data from the wild.
Existing available information will be collected from federal (and possibly
state) agencies and other sources, reviewed and compared with existing
NatureServe and state Heritage Program information, and used in the analysis
for the species summaries.  

Prior to the collection of data, information protocols will be developed and
a database designed.  A steering committee will meet in an initial three-day
workshop in early September 2005 in St Louis to develop these protocols
which will be peer reviewed.  This committee will develop methods of
evaluating and indexing the relative level of recovery potential represented
by the populations on federal lands collectively and for each agency.

A summary of the condition and number of verified populations occurring on
public lands, particularly federal lands for each threatened, endangered,
proposed and candidate species will be produced.  Lists of species for
federal lands (collectively and for each agency) will be generated and
ranked by the relative level of potential contribution to recovery needs
represented by the populations on agency lands.  Likely ranking indices will
be expressed by classes including, potential to achieve full recovery,
potential to contribute to majority of recovery needs, potential to
contribute a significant contribution to recovery needs, the potential for
partial recovery needs, or potential to achieve little or no contribution to
recovery. 

This project is being funded through the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation along with generous matching grants from the Henry Luce
Foundation, Chevron Texaco and the Edward K. Love Conservation Foundation.
This project is set to be complete by the end of 2006.  For more information
about this project contact Bruce Rittenhouse, CPC Conservation Program
Manager, at 314-577-9450 or email at bruce.rittenhouse at mobot.org
<mailto:bruce.rittenhouse at mobot.org>. 

Bruce H. Rittenhouse
Conservation Programs Manager
Center for Plant Conservation
P.O. Box 299
St Louis MO 63166-0299
314-577-9452
314-577-9465 (fax)
bruce.rittenhouse at mobot.org
 
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