June 12, 2001
Contacts: John Buse, Environmental Defense Center (805) 677-2570
David Magney, California Native Plant Society (805) 646-6045
Katherine Stone, Special Counsel, City of Calabasas (805) 644-7188
Mary Wiesbrock, Save Open Space (818) 991-1939

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS, CITY OF CALABASAS SUE TO PROTECT SAN FERNANDO VALLEY SPINEFLOWER

Five environmental groups joined the City of Calabasas on Monday in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to secure protection for the San Fernando Valley Spineflower. The California Native Plant Society, City of Calabasas, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Santa Clara River, Heal the Bay, and Save Open Space/Santa Monica Mountains are represented in the suit by the Ventura office of the Environmental Defense Center (EDC).

The San Fernando Valley Spineflower is a small, white-flowered annual that was once found in many locations in Ventura, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties. Until it was rediscovered in May 1999, the plant was believed to be extinct, with the last confirmed collection in 1929. Today, the San Fernando Valley Spineflower is known to occur only at two locations, both of which are planned for massive "new city" residential development projects - the Laskey Mesa area of the Ahmanson Ranch project in Ventura County, and on the site of the Newhall Ranch project in Los Angeles County.

Concerned that the Ahmanson Ranch project posed a threat to the newly rediscovered Spineflower, the City of Calabasas petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Spineflower as an endangered species in December 1999. Neither former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt nor current Interior Secretary Gale Norton have acted to protect the species, however, although the Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledges that the Spineflower faces an imminent risk of extinction. The suit filed by the EDC seeks to compel the Fish and Wildlife Service to make the listing decision that it has so far failed to provide. "The Spineflower has been stuck in an administrative limbo since we filed our listing petition," said Janice Lee, Mayor of the City of Calabasas. "This lawsuit seeks to correct this neglect and secure real protection for the Spineflower."

"There is no excuse for the failure to list the San Fernando Valley Spineflower," observed David Magney, Conservation Chair of the Channel Islands Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. "Unfortunately, the remaining Spineflower populations are in the path of the Ahmanson Ranch and Newhall Ranch developments. Listing the species will give the Spineflower a chance to recover to numbers that are less vulnerable to sudden extinction," said Magney.

Ron Bottorff, President of the Friends of the Santa Clara River, said that his group joined the Spineflower suit because he has no confidence that Newhall Land and Farming Company, the developer for the 22,000 unit Newhall Ranch project, will take steps to conserve the Spineflower unless the plant is federally protected. "Newhall has barely acknowledged that the Spineflower is present, much less provided any measures to protect it," said Bottorff.

Save Open Space Director Mary Wiesbrock expressed similar concerns about Ahmanson Ranch developer Washington Mutual. "Washington Mutual says they will build their new city around the Spineflower and the Red-legged Frog, but this is a sad joke. This legal action will give the Spineflower a chance to survive, and is just one more reason why WaMu should cut its losses and sell the Ahmanson Ranch as a park," said Wiesbrock.

The Environmental Defense Center is a non-profit, public interest environmental law firm serving California's South Central Coast. Since 1977, EDC has provided public education, organizing, advocacy, and legal services to community groups dedicated to environmental quality and health.