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The Morning glory Thanks you.

© Kate Staron

At this time of year we often reflect on what we have to be thankful for. Some residents of El Dorado county, CA, such as the Stebbin's morning glory (Calystegia stebbinsii) must be glad they got on the endangered species list at all. A set of five plants were put on the endangered list (four endangered and one threatened) in November of 1996 after two decades of being listed as possible species for consideration.

In 1975 the Smithsonian Institute presented a report to congress on the plants considered to be endangered, threatened or extinct in the United States. Several plants in El Dorado county were listed including the Stebbin's morning Glory. From here, came a roller coaster of notices of withdrawal and then reviews as laws were amended, funding changed, and even moratoriums were underway to prevent species from ending on the endangered species list. But finally, after twenty years of red tape, the Stebbin's morning glory and four other El Dorado county plants found status with the Endangered Species act.

The Stebbin's morning glory is one of the endangered plants in a specific habitat found in California. This morning glory needs periodic fire to clear away the other plants so it can grow. Any plants that grow above the plant and shade the morning glory, cause it to stop growing, and eventually the morning glory will die. Due to human activity the frequency of fires have gone down, and with it the plants that depend on these conditions have dwindled. Suppression of fire combined with other human activities are causing the Stebbin's morning glory to lose precious habitat. The area in California is growing and more residential developments and shopping malls are expected to go up in the area as well as roads to get to these places. Even those flowers that do not get uprooted by the building will be cut off, or fragmented, from other Stebbin morning glories and may not be able to get pollinated from flowers across the road or apartment complex. In more rural areas the Stebbin morning glories won't be pulled up for a road or cut off from others, but they may be eaten by grazing livestock such as horses. The flower doesn't seem safe in the city or the country, but other endangered plants of El Dorado County face many of the same problems.

Even though most of the plants occur on private land, the plan of the FWS is to set aside botanical reserves for these plants in publicly owned areas. Education geared toward private landowners in the area will be key if the plants are to survive. While the first of many battles for the Stebbin's morning glory is over with it being recognized as endangered by the Endangered species act, it and the other native plants around it have a long way to go before they can reclaim the numbers they once were. If you live in El Dorado county, the only county where these flowers grow, check with the FWS in your area to see what you can do to help preserve these flowers.