Two Rare Channel Islands Plants Snatched from the Snouts of Defeat
With Feral Pigs out of the Picture, Endangered Species Make Impressive Comeback
Two rare Channel Island plant species — the Channel Island bedstraw and Santa Cruz Island dudleya — have been saved from extinction, conservationists announced Wednesday. The survival of the two species, which are found nowhere else on Earth, hinged on their recovery from damage caused by plant-trampling, soil-eroding, grass-munching livestock, namely, sheep and feral pigs.
“The pigs were brought to the islands as farm animals way back in the 1850s,” said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Given that the feral animals had been wreaking havoc on the ecosystem for more than 100 years, it’s pretty amazing that the plants were recovered in just 25.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has proposed to remove the two plants from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Species. Since their initial listings in 1997, and through corresponding protection efforts under the Endangered Species Act, the primary threats to both species have been removed, and their populations have increased and dispersed.
