Aug. 24, 2006 — The. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wednesday proposed that 50 acres of private land near Halfpenny Bay, St. Croix, be designated as a critical habitat for the Catesbaea melanocarpa shrub, which is on the federal endangered species list.
Melanocarpa is a branching shrub that has small spines, small leaves and funnel-shaped white flowers. It grows in both dry and moist subtropical forests.
The property has about 100 plants located within a dry forest.
The plant was listed as an endangered species on March 17, 1999. It is also found in Puerto Rico, but those locations are already protected as commonwealth forests.
Rudy O'Reilly, a botanist at the U.S. Agriculture Department's Natural Resource Conservation Service office on St. Croix, discovered the plant.
He said he was riding his bicycle back in the late '80s on a secondary road near Halfpenny Bay when a flower he didn't recognize caught his eye. "Most new discoveries are quite by accident," he said.
The plant can grow approximately 10 feet tall and produces a round, black fruit.
"The melanocarpa is an extremely rare plant, but our hope is that by making a concerted effort, we can reverse the damage that has been done to this native plant and its habitat," Edwin Muñiz, field supervisor for the Fish and Wildlife's Caribbean Field Office, said in a news release issued Wednesday.
Threats to its survival include habitat destruction or modification for residential and tourism development, fire and catastrophic natural events, such as hurricanes. Additionally, the limited number of reproducing plants poses a threat to its survival.
Critical habitat is a term included in the Endangered Species Act. It identifies geographic areas that contain features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require additional management considerations or protection.
According to Fish and Wildlife, the designation as a critical habit does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve, or other conservation area. It does not allow government or public access to private lands. Structures such as roads, buildings and paved areas and the land on which they are located are not included in critical habitat.
Fish and Wildlife spokesman Lilibeth Serrano said Thursday that her agency worked with the landowner to protect the habitat. "It's been a long process," she said.
Serrano said that when melanocarpa was named to the endangered species list, her agency did not propose listing the habitat because it feared the area would be vandalized if it became the focus of attention. However, she said that a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity forced the agency into a settlement that included proposing the area be listed as a critical habitat.
Serrano said proposed designation in itself won't do much for preserving the species, but she said that should a federal or local government agency want to do something like put a road through the property, the listing will help protect the area.
If the proposed critical habitat designation goes through, it will join the habitats of 475 species out of the 1,310 on the threatened or endangered list.
Serrano said that working with private landowners and cooperative partnerships gets better results in protecting endangered species and their habitat than listings.
Public comments on the proposed rule will be accepted until Oct. 23. Written comments and information on the proposal should be submitted to the Caribbean U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office, Edwin E. Muñiz, Field Supervisor, P.O. Box 491, Boquerón, Puerto Rico 00622; or by e-mail. Public hearing requests must be received by Oct. 6.
Fish and Wildlife will publish an announcement in the Federal Register to notify the public when the draft economic analysis is available for review and comment. When that happens, Fish and Wildlife will hold a public hearing on this proposed action and the draft economic analysis, if requested. A copy of the proposed rule and other information about the C. melanocarpa is available at www.fws.gov/southeast or by contacting Marelisa Rivera at 787- 851-7297, or by fax at 787- 851-7440.
The property owners could not be reached for comment.
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