Two Channel Islands Plants Removed from Endangered Species List
Island Bedstraw and Santa Cruz Island Dudleya Recover from Brink of Extinction After 26 Years of Federal Protection
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed two Channel Islands plants from the endangered species list on Monday, following the plants’ successful resuscitation from the brink of extinction. The island bedstraw and Santa Cruz Island dudleya — found only on two of the northern Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara and nowhere else on Earth — kissed the list goodbye after 26 years of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Island bedstraw, a small, woody shrub with green-ish white flowers, and the Santa Cruz Island dudleya (or liveforever), a succulent perennial with little white flowers, were rescued from the barnyard jaws of defeat that first landed them on the list back in 1997.
Sheep and feral pigs introduced to the Channel Islands in the 1800s previously ruled over the island environment with a destructive, iron hoof, grazing and trampling and eroding away the islands’ unique plant species. However, they were removed from the islands in the early 2000s, allowing the ecosystem to gradually heal from the destruction.
Island bedstraw has expanded from 19 known sites and 500 to 600 individual plants in 1997 to 42 sites and 15,700 plants today. The dudleya, which lives in only one area on the westernmost tip of Santa Cruz Island, has increased in distribution and its population has stabilized at 120,000 plants since it was first listed.
Botanists have begun conservation banking of both plants’ seeds, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has developed a monitoring plan to ensure the plants continue to thrive, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. This is especially important for the Santa Cruz Island dudleya, which inhabits a single area that’s vulnerable to sea-level rise caused by climate change.
The island bedstraw and Santa Cruz Island dudleya join 61 other species of plants and animals that have successfully recovered under federal protection, including bald eagles, peregrine falcons, humpback whales, Coastal California sunflowers, and Channel Islands foxes.
