This paper describes efforts of the City of San Diego, in conjunction with the nonprofit Friends of Los Peñasquitos Canyon, to protect a population of the federal and state endangered willowy monardella (Monardella linoides) from changes in urban hydrology.
Recording from the September 28, 2022 SDMMP Management and Monitoring Coordination Meeting. Presentations from Ann Baldridge, Ashleyann Bacay, and Carolina Guia (RCD of Greater San Diego):Regional Priority Plan; Diana Brand Ramirez and Ian Maunsell (AECOM): Assessment of Willowy Monardella Status, Habitat, and Threats on Conserved Lands in San Diego County, and Emily Perkins (SDMMP) Preserve Metrics Dashboard..
In March 2020 as part of the MSP Roadmap objectives, the Conservation Biology Institute and
AECOM in collaboration with SDMMP, prepared a Framework Rare Plant Management Plan for
Conserved Lands in Western San Diego County (FRPMP) for SANDAG. The FRPMP provides
guidelines to manage MSP-rare plants on conserved lands in western San Diego County by
determining key factors for management, recommending management strategies and priority
actions, and identifying research needs. The March 2020 FRMP included species-specific
chapters for four MSP rare plants; an update to the FRMP completed March 2021 added new
species-specific chapters for three additional MSP rare plants, including willowy monardella.
Vernadero Group Inc. (Vernadero) was contracted by Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest on behalf of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar to conduct a Stationwide census for willowy monardella (Monardella viminea) and monitor the species within long-term monitoring plots at MCAS Miramar in San Diego, California. We surveyed and mapped all willowy monardella on MCAS Miramar, identifying adults, mature plants, juveniles, and seedlings. A total of 972 willowy monardella clumps was found during the 2017 census; 278 clumps that had been observed and tagged during previous surveys were not found again during the 2017 census. Clumps were found in six of the nine canyons surveyed and a total of 141 living willowy monardella clumps was recorded in the 17 monitoring plots. The results from the 2017 census and plot monitoring indicate a continuing decline in the number and health of willowy monardella clumps at MCAS Miramar. The cause of the decline in willowy monardella clumps and reproduction is unknown; however, stress to plants from the long-term drought conditions that occurred for the five years prior to the 2017 surveys accompanied by large scouring events in the stream channels from large rainfall events in the 2016 and 2017 growing seasons could have caused mortality in adult willowy monardella plants, reduced the production of viable seeds during drought conditions, and displaced all viable seed produced when drought conditions were relieved by above-average precipitation in 2016 and 2017.
This is a species management document for Willowy Monardella. This document contains recommendations in an effort to establish guidelines for the conservation on willowy monardella, a federally listed endangered plant. The recommendations is applicable to all areas of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
This review was compiled by staff of the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office (CFWO), U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service). The review was completed using documents from office files as well as available literature on Monardella linoides subsp. viminea. We relied on our 1998 listing rule, our proposed critical habitat designation, our final critical habitat designation, and reports and information in our files, sent to us during the public response period. The subspecies? status and threats at the time of listing are compared to current status and threats.
A notice announcing initiation of the 5-year review for this subspecies and the opening of a 60-day period requesting information from the public was published in the Federal Register on March 22, 2006 (71 FR 14538). During the 60-day period we received information from two respondents but neither provided new information relevant to this review.
This project is aimed at assessing the status and genetic diversity of populations of six species of
rare plants in San Diego County including Acanthomintha ilicifolia (San Diego thornmint) and
Monardella viminea (willowy monardella) in the Lamiaceae, Chloropyron
maritimum ssp. maritimum (salt marsh bird's-beak) and Dicranostegia orcuttiana (Orcutt's
bird's-beak) in the Orobanchaceae, and Baccharis vanessae (Encinitas baccharis) and Deinandra
conjugens (Otay tarplant) in the Asteraceae. The results of this project should directly contribute
to the conservation and management of these rare plant taxa in the San Diego MSPA. For each of
these species, information on the genetic makeup and diversity across its range is needed to
inform potential management actions such as establishing new populations and enhancing
existing populations. Previously, verification and scientific voucher specimens were lacking
from many occurrences of these six target species across San Diego County. Therefore, the goals
of this task are to collect genetic material from as many species’ occurrences as possible and to
collect voucher specimens to serve as a long-term resource for studying the populations
associated with this project. These collections are useful for future genetic and morphological
work to help inform management action. The genetic analyses of these collections will be
performed by USGS.
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), recognize the recent change to the taxonomy of the currently endangered plant taxon, Monardella linoides ssp. viminea, in which the subspecies was split into two distinct full species, Monardella viminea (willowy monardella) and Monardella stoneana (Jennifer’s monardella). Because the original subspecies, Monardella linoides ssp. viminea, was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), we reviewed and updated the threats analysis that we completed for the taxon in 1998, when it was listed as a subspecies. We also reviewed the status of the new species, Monardella stoneana. We retain the listing status of Monardella viminea as endangered, and we remove protections afforded by the Act from those individuals now recognized as the separate species, Monardella stoneana, because the new species does not meet the definition of endangered or threatened under the Act. We also revise designated critical habitat for Monardella viminea. In total, approximately 122 acres (50 hectares) in San Diego County, California, fall within the boundaries of the critical habitat designation. We are not designating critical habitat for Monardella stoneana because this species does not warrant listing under the Act.
Objectives of this Study: The goal of this project was to evaluate the current status of the rare plant populations on MSCP preserve lands administered by the City of San Diego, including population size, density, and habitat quality. Our three primary objectives were:
1. Review existing population status and location information to update the City's database and to identify City-owned lands that have the potential to support populations of MSCP covered plant species.
2. Conduct reconnaissance surveys on MSCP lands to determine if additional populations and locations of covered plants exist and to refine the locations where quantitative monitoring should be conducted.
3. Initiate quantitative monitoring for selected species and populations or locations that have not been monitored previously. This monitoring will establish the baseline data that will be used in conjunction with future monitoring to determine the status of these species and populations. This information will then be used to direct the management of these species' populations and habitats within the City's MSCP lands. The specific questions to be addressed in the long-term monitoring program are:
a. What are the status and trends of the target species?
b. What are the site conditions that may influence spatial patterns in the
population dynamics of the target species?
c. What management actions should be taken to minimize threats to the
target species, and are these actions effective?
The City of San Diego has conducted quantitative monitoring for short-leaved Dudleya (Dudleya blochmaniae ssp. brevifolia), San Diego Ambrosia (Ambrosia pumilla), and Nuttall's Lotus (Lotus nuttallianus). In addition, City staff and volunteers have monitored selected populations of willowy Monardella (Monardella linoides ssp. viminea) and San Diego thornmint (Acanthomintha ilicifolia). Table 1 lists the species that were monitored as part of this study (X) and those species for which the City of San Diego (SD) conducted quantitative monitoring. Although some of the species were not monitored as part of this study, all 11 species listed in Table 1 were included in the literature review and reconnaissance surveys discussed in Section 2.
The goal of this study was to elucidate relationships among the geographically proximate members of the M. linoides and M. odoratissima groups using population genetics methods, namely M. linoides [subsps. Linoides, oblonga (E. Greene) Abrams, and stricta (Parish) Epling], M. viminea, M. stoneana, and M. australis Abrams (of the M. odoratissima group) (but see Elvin and Sanders in press). Fluorescent ISSRs were employed because they require no up front information (unlike microsatellites) and provide a larger number of fragments than non-fluorescent methods. The specific goal was to test the hypotheses that M. viminea is distinct from M. stoneana, that M. viminea is distinct from M. linoides, and that M. stoneana and M. viminea are more closely related to M. australis than to M. linoides.
The Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) and AECOM Technical Services, Inc. (AECOM) worked
with the San Diego Management and Monitoring Program (SDMMP) and other regional partners to
prepare a Management Strategic Plan (MSP) Seed Collection, Banking, and Bulking Plan (SCBBP)
for MSP rare plants in the Management Strategic Planning Area in San Diego County, California.
The Rare Plant Management Group Steering Committee guided development of the plan, while
species Working Groups provided technical expertise (Appendix A). The plan was funded by the
San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). The SCBBP is a living document that will be
updated over time.
The SCBBP provides a strategic approach to managing seed resources for MSP rare plants on
conserved lands in western San Diego County. This document does not replace existing NCCP
obligations or requirements, and recommendations in the plan are advisory and meant to be
implemented voluntarily if land owners and managers so desire. Recommendations are
consistent with the intent of regional NCCP plans. The SCBBP fulfills an objective in the
regional Management and Monitoring Strategic Plan for Conserved Lands in Western San Diego
County: A Strategic Habitat Conservation Roadmap (MSP Roadmap), provides guidelines to
implement selected management actions in the MSP Framework Rare Plant Management Plan
(F-RPMP) related to seed resources, and is informed by regional and preserve-specific
monitoring data and studies.