Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered or Threatened Status for Three Plants from the Chaparral and Scrub of Southwestern California

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) determines endangered status pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), for two plants, Berberis nevinii (Nevin's barberry) and Fremontodendron mexicanum (Mexican flannelbush) and threatened status for one plant, Ceanothus ophiochilus (Vail Lake ceanothus) throughout their respective historic ranges in southwestern California and northwestern Estado de Baja California, Mexico. These species are associated with scrub and chaparral plant communities and are, in some cases, endemic to specific types of clay soils. These species are threatened by one or more of the following factors: destruction, degradation and fragmentation of habitat by urbanization; encroachment by exotic plant species, disruption of normal fire cycles; off-highway vehicle (OHV) use, hybridization, and the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms. This rule implements the Federal protection and recovery provisions afforded by the Act for these species. These plant species were proposed for listing on October 2, 1995 (60 FR 51433). Another species proposed as threatened on that date, Nolina interrata (Dehesa beargrass), is withdrawn in this same Federal Register part, to be published on the same day as this final rule.