Rare Plants

Rare Plants Utah Native Plant Society
See also profiles in advocacy for:
Arctomecon humilis
Penstemon grahamii

Utah is home to well over 300 rare plant species including some 25 species that are federally listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Roughly 10% of our total flora is rare, and a great number of those are threatened or endangered, as often their restricted habitat requirements are slowly being lost. Only a few states (California, Florida, Texas and Oregon) are believed to have as many or more rare plant species as Utah. And this number is growing, since every year new species are still being discovered or recognized.

Why care about rare plants? (note: while this link refers to California, the situation in Utah is very similar)

The single most comprehensive source dedicated to Utah rare plants is the Utah Rare Plant Guide hosted and maintained by us on a separate site at http://www.utahrareplants.org. In 2009, UNPS published its first comprehensive rare plant list for the first time in many years, see UNPS 2009 Utah rare plant list in XLS format (and more information below).

Utah's incredibly diverse geography and its unique geologic and soil charactertistics have created special microhabitats where a spectacular diversity of life has evolved. In many cases these habitats are harsh, arid lands upon which plant specialists have found a niche. One limited example of that are Washington County's Endangered Plants. These plants require the habitats on which they have specifically adapted and cannot simply be moved nor effectively planted elsewhere. They also support a web of life that taken as a whole represent endangered habitats.

Places in Utah that currently represent "hot spots" where human encroachments are impacting areas of high biological diversity includes the St. George/Bloomington and surrounding areas in Washington County (rapid habitat loss due to urban sprawl and residential developments), Uinta Basin (severe energy development impacts on a massive scale), Cedar City residential and commercial expansion into Cedar Valley and as a result of renewed iron mining activities to the west in Iron County, Sevier County (energy and recreational/off-road vehicle use on Arapien shale such as in the Rainbow Hills) and Wayne County (such as Factory Butte recreational impacts). There are many other areas of concern include the continued loss of foothills habitat and almost complete loss of valley habitats along the central Wasatch Front in Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties, and resort and related developments in the Park City area (Summit County) which all contain historically high levels of plant and animal diversity.

An increasing threat to native plants generally is the spread of invasive species (which is specifically tied to land disturbances caused by people as well as a result of bad decision making). In addition to a long list of species that have caused devastasting damage such as tamarisk, Russian olive and cheatgrass, a more recent example along the central Wasatch Front is the troublesome Myrtle or "donkey tail" spurge (Euphorbia myrsinities) which is spreading up our canyons and dominants many different kinds of habitats, and which has spread from extensive residential plantings. Riparian habitats generally are among our most threatened and typically in areas proximate human populations where they still exist have largely been replaced by non-native species.

What follows are some references to federal, state land management agency and sites that administer programs relating to rare plant species in Utah, more issues that related to rare plants and additional background information on the role UNPS has played over the past 30 years.

Utah's federally listed plant species as of January 11, 2003 (USFWS list) (25 species as of 9/15/09 due to a taxonomic recognition change, previously 24 species; no species listed nor proposed under the Bush administration, no new species listed since 2001). Utah is in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Mountain-Praire Region. A number of our federally listed species are depicted in our Threatened and Endangered Plants of Utah poster.

The Lacey Act helps to regulate illegally obtained plants that are moved across state lines. An import declaration requirement was added via the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 along with other expanded protections.

Pesticides that may impact endangered species are supposed to be monitored under the EPA's Endangered Species Protection Program. In terms of its implementation in Utah, see the Utah State University extension pesticide no. 13 fact sheet. In connection with plants, while the focus on the individual plant species and its habitat is important, it misses the critical nature of pollinators and particularly bees. Bees are very sensitive to the use of pesticides. A tremendously important introductory article in this regard and which outlines the need to conserve native bees if there is to be any chance of conserving the vast majority of our rare plant species is "Wild Bees and Floral Jewels" by Dr. Vincent Tepedino (originally published in the Xerces magazine Wings in Spring 1997, Vol. 20, #1, see Wings: Back Issues and reprinted and available on-line here; another Tepedino article entitled "Native Bees" can be found in the UNPS Sego Lily 1991 archive, vol. 14, issue no. 2 available here). The places where bees live are not necessarily the same as where rare plant species live and therefore consideration of essential or "critical" habitat for plant species must consider and encompass protection of pollinator habitat including appropriate buffer zones.

International trade in endangered species is regulated by CITES, an international agreement between various governments throughout the world of which the United States is a party and is enforced by the USDA. See also Permits for Non-native Species or Import and Export of Non-Native and Native Species

BLM Sensitive Plant Species List for Utah August 2002 (99 taxonomic entities) maintained by the BLM's Utah State Office.

BLM sensitive species and related updates:

As of August 2008, the BLM list remained the same, but was under review. The only change since August 2002 is that via Instruction Memorandum No. UT 2007-078 dated September 26, 2007, the BLM has added Penstemon grahamii, formerly a candidate species, to the list. The candidate status was lost because of the denial of a listing petition that involved interference at the Washington, DC level; that decision is being challenged.

On December 15, 2008, the BLM announced changes to its 6840 Manual for Management of Special Status Species which had previously not been updated since 2001. The manual provides guidance to ensure compliance with the Endangered Species Act and in connection with its special status species program which includes "sensitive" plant species.

Effective June 30, 2009, Astragalus equisolensis was added "back" to the list. Like P. grahamii, A. equisolensis was formerly a FWS candidate species. After being on the candidate list since September 27, 1985, on September 12, 2006 it was removed due to questions about its status in Colorado. Therefore as of 9/12/06 by BLM policy, it was also not considered to be BLM sensitive. In accordance with BLM Instruction Memorandum No. UT 2009-045 dated July 30, 2009, this species was added back to the BLM list, and the effective date, while not stated in the memo, was June 30, 2009. The BLM list remains under review with no other changes since August 2002.

Forest Service (Utah/Region 4)

On March 30, 2010, the Forest Service updated its 1994 list and 13 sensitive plant species which occur on Utah forests were added.

Intermountain Region (R4) Endangered, Threatened, and Sensitive Plant Species March 2010 list

Purely for reference purposes, the following link to the 1994 list is provided.

Intermountain Region (R4) Endangered, Threatened, and Sensitive Plant Species 1994 list

Forests in the region are not yet operating under the 2005 planning rule. Several forests are in the revision process as of September, 2008.

In July of 2009, profiles of critically imperiled plant profiles in FS Region 4 became available in the Celebrating Wildflowers section.

Dixie-Fishlake

Uinta-Wasatch-Cache

Ashley currently has no on-line reference

Manti-LaSal currently has no on-line reference

Utah Conservation Data Center (click on Plants). The Utah Natural Heritage Program (State Of Utah, Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife Resources) has since 1988 collected data on rare or declining native species and serves as a central repository for that information for use by land managers and the general public. The State of Utah however has essentially no laws that protect rare, sensitive, endangered nor threatened plant species. The state's largest land management agency, School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA), chooses not to avail itself of the extensive information available to it in the course of considering projects and their impacts on rare Utah native plant treasures.