Although nine sensitive plant species were included as Identified Species under the Natural Communities Conservation Plan/Habitat Conservation Plan (NCCP/HCP) conservation strategy, 64 species ranked as California rare plants have been documented within the Reserve system. Rare plants are often associated with or dependent upon a specific vegetation community, disturbance or hydrological regime, soil condition, or pollinator. Because they fill diverse niches, they can serve as indicators of the NCCP/HCP conserved land network’s effectiveness in preserving diverse habitat conditions; retaining functional ecological processes; and protecting species from a broad range of threats and stressors, including disturbance from recreation, altered fire regimes, herbivory, predation, and competition with invasive plants.
In order to direct limited funding toward the rarest and most vulnerable species, the large number of sensitive plant taxa within the EHA Study Area will need to be narrowed down. Monitoring could focus on endemic species whose ranges fall primarily inside the Reserve. Or, it could focus on those particularly vulnerable to climate change (e.g., in areas vulnerable to sea level rise or with small populations at the edge of their range), found in high disturbance areas, and associated with vegetation communities most affected by land use change (e.g., wetlands). Since this will no doubt result in a large suite of candidate species, further prioritization will likely be necessary to direct monitoring primarily toward species whose threats can potentially be managed (i.e., plants threatened by recreation, fire, and isolation).
