Pink sand-verbena (Abronia umbellata) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 10

Existing Protection or Other Status Designations

International status 

Abronia umbellata ssp. breviflora is listed by the State of Oregon as endangered and is considered to a Species of Concern by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is not covered under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Endangered Species Act (USA) or the IUCN Red Data Book. NatureServe (2002) has designated a global rank of G4G5T2 for this subspecies, a ranking that indicates that, on a global scale, it is "imperiled because of rarity (typically 6-20 extant occurrences or few remaining individuals) or because of some factor(s) making it vulnerable to extirpation or extinction". The subspecies is ranked S2 (with about 12 sites) in California (Kaye 1995), S1 (with three wild populations) in Oregon (Kaye 1995) and SX (extirpated) in Washington [Washington Natural Heritage Program 1994].

National and provincial status 

In British Columbia, Abronia umbellata ssp. breviflora is considered endangered/threatened and has been placed on the Ministry of Sustainable Resources red list (Douglas et al. 2002a) It has been ranked either S1 (Douglas et al. 2002a) which indicates it is "critically imperilled because of extreme rarity (typically five or fewer occurrences or very few remaining individuals) or because of some factors making it especially vulnerable to extirpation or extinction" or SX (Douglas et al. 1998) indicating that the plant is extirpated. This is the most critical status that can be applied to a species at the provincial level. It is presently (2003) ranked SX by the British Columbia Conservation Data Centre. Since the species is restricted to British Columbia and presently ranked SX, the National rank, by definition is NX.

British Columbia does not have specific legislation in place for the protection of vascular plants at risk. If A. umbellata should re-appear in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve it would be afforded protection under the Canada National Parks Act. COSEWIC listed plants included under the Species at Risk Act will be protected on Federal lands.

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