Loch Lomond Button Celery
In 1941, Robert Hoover collected the first specimen of button celery, although the plant is named for botanist Lincoln Constance who, together with M.Yusuf Sheikh, collected samples from the vernal pool in 1973. Sheikh continued to search other areas for the button celery as part of his doctoral thesis, but found no other populations. In 1984, California state botanists also conducted a search for other populations with no success.
The emergency listing in the Federal Register by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) occurred in August, 1985 (50 FR 31187) to prevent the possible extinction of the species. (At the time, the Reserve had the only known population. Since the 1990s, three more populations have been found.) The emergency listing expired on March 29, 1986 and a new proposed rule was submitted by USFWS on March 26 which included public notification and request for comments. A Final Rule was issued and the button celery was federally listed as Endangered on January 22, 1987.
The landowner was planning construction of a pool or lake at the site and excavation had already begun, so the disturbed area was graded and reseeded with button celery. Other threats included off-highway vehicles, people treading through the meadow, and illegal dumping.
During the rainy season, off-road vehicles are still a problem, and the Department of Fish and Game is currently surveying the property for installation of new fencing.
Read more about this topic: Loch Lomond Vernal Pool Ecological Reserve
Famous quotes containing the words loch and/or button:
“Oh, many a day have I made good ale in the glen,
That came not of stream, or malt, like the brewing of men;
My bed was the ground, my roof the greenwood above,
And the wealth that I sought, one far kind glance from my love.”
—Unknown. The Outlaw of Loch Lene (l. 1–4)
“What is the life of man! Is it not to shift from side to side?—from sorrow to sorrow?—to button up one cause of vexation!—and unbutton another!”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)