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Thorny Listing Papers

Wildlife managers say there are no conflicts between current efforts to help ducks and two proposed new endangered herbs in the Suisun Marsh, despite federal listing documents that state otherwise. At a meeting this October, U.S. Fish & Wildlife proposed the Suisun thistle and a snapdragon called the soft birds-beak as endangered species, after a one year study. The Suisun thistle lives only in two places, the Rush Ranch Preserve and another shred of native brackish marsh at Peyton Slough Ecological Reserve. The soft bird's beak occupies the upland fringe of the brackish marsh in pickleweed-dominated plains and is found in ten locations, all on public lands, says Cal Fish & Game's Dennis Becker. Both live on the outboard side of levees which protect seasonal marshes designed to help migratory waterfowl.

Listing documents for the two plants identify seasonal wetlands creation for waterfowl, along with salinity increases and continuing urbanization, as key threats to the tidal marsh habitat the two plants prefer. But these statements in the listing documents were called erroneous by Suisun Marsh managers, who admitted they had not commented during the comment period. The comment period closed October 15 with little written testimony submitted, according to Fish & Wildlife's Kirsten Tarp.

Cal Fish & Game's Brian Hunter says it may have been an oversight that no corrections were made to what he called "numerous errors" in the listing and says his agency would make sure that the "errors" were cleared up before a recovery plan is released.

Becker says the real threat to the two plants, an alien broadleaf weed called whitetop, was not mentioned in the report. He says Fish & Game has been forced to spray the noxious weed on Grizzly Island to keep it from spreading into tidal marshes.

Contact: Dennis Becker (707)452-3858

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