Golden Gate National Recreation Area Provides a New Home for Federally Endangered Plant

Date: December 22, 2011
Contact: Alexandra Picavet, [phone]

California Native Plant Society

Marsh Sandwort in bloom in San

San Francisco, CA.  In early December 2011, one of the rarest plants in the United States, marsh sandwort (Arenaria paludicola), found a new home at Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

This plant was once found growing in marshes and riparian areas along the Pacific coast from Los Angeles to Washington State. Due to coastal development and other threats, there are now only about ten individuals left growing in the wild. All of these remaining wild individuals are found in San Luis Obispo County, CA.

One of the historic populations of this species, recorded by early botanists, was from Fort Point, just south of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA. The site is now part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, but the marsh sandwort found there in the early 1900's are no longer there. Because of this history, Golden Gate National Recreation Area was identified as a promising introduction site for a new population.

A team of biologists from the National Park Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the University of California Santa Cruz and several non-profits worked together to plant over 800 marsh sandwort individuals in various wetland habitats at Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The success of these new populations will be followed closely in the coming months and years.

This multi-agency project, funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was an important step towards preventing the extinction of this critically endangered species.

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