Strategic Planning and Resource Assessment

Forest Service 2003 Success Stories

Success Stories: Big Business and Environmental Interests Agree to Protect Rare Plants

The San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF) and limestone-mining interests recently agreed to a Carbonate Habitat Management Strategy to protect the habitat and populations of four federally listed plant species.

This strategy document is the result of several years of dedicated and collaborative work between the USDA Forest Service , mining companies (including OMYA California, Specialty Minerals, and Mitsubishi Cement), major claim holders, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, San Bernardino County, and the California Native Plant Society.

Implementation of this strategy will allow economic development of the limestone resource of the northern San Bernardino Mountains (currently producing approximately $175 million annually), while protecting the unique flora of the area.

Limestone mining in the San Bernardino Mountains is big business, and these valuable deposits are used in many commercial and industrial products. But, the limestone areas also provide habitat for a variety of rare plants. Four plants in the area covered by this agreement are listed as threatened or endangered: Cushenbury milk-vetch, Parish's daisy, Cushenbury buckwheat, and Cushenbury oxytheca. Limestone mining can result in the destruction of these plants and their habitat.

USDA Forest Service - Strategic Planning and Resource Assessment
Last Modified: Tuesday, 18 May 2004 at 11:33:29 EDT