Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered or Threatened Status for Four Southwestern California Plants from Vernal Wetlands and Clay Soils

The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) determines endangered status pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), for two plants--Allium munzii (Munz's onion) and Atriplex coronata var. notatior (San Jacinto Valley crownscale), and determines threatened status for two plants--Brodiaea filifolia (thread-leaved brodiaea) and Navarretia fossalis (spreading navarretia). These four plants occur in vernal pools and other wetlands or on clay soils and moist grasslands throughout their respective ranges in southwestern California and northwestern Baja California, Mexico. These plant are variously threatened by one or more of the following: habitat destruction and fragmentation from agricultural and urban development, pipeline construction, alteration of wetland hydrology by draining or excessive flooding, channelization, off-road vehicle activity, cattle and sheep grazing, weed abatement, fire suppression practices (including discing (plowing)), and competition from alien plant species. This rule implements the Federal protection and recovery provisions afforded by the Act for these four plants.