Scotts valley polygonum polygonum hickmanii is a narrow endemic annual in the family polygonaceae known historicallyfrom three sites in the city of scotts valley in santa cruz county the three sites…

Scotts valley polygonum polygonum hickmanii is a narrow endemic annual in the family polygonaceae known historicallyfrom three sites in the city of scotts valley in santa cruz county the three sites are known as the salvation army property salvation army , scotts valley high school preserve svhsp , and polo ranch conservation easement polo ranch thespecies currently faces a high threat of extinction due to low population size, encroachment from non native species, habitatalteration and destruction, inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms, inadequate preserve design service 2020, p 6 the ventura fish and wildlife office considers scotts valley polygonum a focal species in need of recovery actions withinthe next five years in order to prevent extinction service 2021, p 1 only the population at polo ranch remains, althoughthe species was nearly lost when no individuals were observed in 2015, and less than 50 were observed from 2016 2018 similarly, occupied habitat has decreased maintenance of individual colonies since 2018 at polo ranch has resulted in anincrease in abundance but no increase in areal extent or number of occupied colonies service 2020, p 5 scotts valleypolygonum has not been observed at the salvation army site for 10 years and at the svhsp for six years no seed bank isbelieved to exist at either the salvation army site or svhsp based on the lack of response to restoration efforts and theextremely shallow soil that the species occurs on given the likely absence of a viable in situ seedbank at the salvation armysite, svhsp, and unoccupied historical colonies at polo ranch, reintroduction of scotts valley polygonum via seeding and or outplanting is necessary to reestablish the species across its range and prevent extinction this proposed project builds on activities conducted under an existing cdfw permit for seed conservation and habitatmanagement activities for scotts valley polygonum permit number 2081 a 18 004 RP , and has been developed incollaboration with the scotts valley polygonum scientific recovery implementation team established in 2018 by the u s fish and wildlife service service we will use seed collected from greenhouse reared plants under the existing cdfwpermit to reestablish the species at unoccupied historical colonies at polo ranch through seeding the greenhouse rearedplants produced an estimated 93,000 viable seeds h forbes 2022, pers COM this is a sufficient number of seed to bothaugment our conservation seed bank and support a multi year seeding study this project proposes to conduct an initial pilot study at polo ranch to identify conditions and techniques for successful insitu germination and population reestablishment we will introduce seeds produced by greenhouse reared plants from arange of maternal lines to historically occupied colonies that have not had observed individuals for a minimum of five yearsto avoid disturbing naturally reproducing colonies polo ranch was recently protected with a permanent conservationeasement, and a revised management plan was finalized with input from cdfw, the service, and other parties livestockgrazing is being reintroduced to the polo ranch in 2022, and grazing exclosures are being installed to protect existingcolonies as well as the potential restoration sites this plan is being implemented by the wildlife heritage foundation inclose coordination with the agencies and is funded by a permanent endowment assuming scotts valley polygonumreintroduction is successful, we will use the lessons learned from this pilot study to plan additional reintroduction in otherhistoric colonies at polo ranch, the salvation army site, and svhsp