Aug. 28, 2007 — A year after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked that land at Estate Grenard, Ha’ Penny Bay, St. Croix, be listed as a critical habit for an endangered plant, the agency got its wish Tuesday.
The plant, tropical lilythorn, or Catesbaea melanocarpa, is a branching shrub with small spines, small leaves and funnel-shaped white flowers. It grows in both dry and moist subtropical forests. (See “St. Croix Land Proposed for Critical Habitat.”)
The designation of the acreage at Ha’ Penny Bay was published Tuesday in the Federal Register, according to a news release from Fish and Wildlife. A total of 10 1/2 acres is included in the critical habitat. A phone call to Fish and Wildlife in Puerto Rico, which issued the release, was not returned Tuesday.
Threats to the plant’s survival include the limited number of reproducing plants, habitat destruction, modification for residential and tourism development, fire and catastrophic natural events such as hurricanes, the service says.
The plant was discovered by St. Croix resident Rudy O'Reilly, a botanist at the U.S. Agriculture Department's Natural Resource Conservation Service office on St. Croix. In the late 1980s, he was riding his bicycle on a secondary road near Ha’ Penny Bay when a flower he didn't recognize caught his eye.
"We haven't found it anywhere else on St. Croix," he said Tuesday.
The plant was listed as an endangered species on March 17, 1999. It is also found in Puerto Rico, but those locations are already protected as commonwealth forests.
A critical habitat is a geographic area that contains features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species. The areas may require additional management consideration and protection.
The designation as a critical habit does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve or other conservation area, according to Fish and Wildlife. It does not allow government or public access to private lands. Structures such as roads, buildings and paved areas and the land on which they are located are not included in the critical habitat.
Fish and Wildlife initially asked that 50 acres be set aside as a critical habitat, but reduced the amount because it did not contain subtropical dry forestry habitat critical to melanocarpa's survival.
The 10 1/2 acre-designation was a good compromise between the need to protect the plant and the homeowners, O'Reilly said.
"It's located in that specific region," he said.
The property has about 100 plants located within a dry forest.
The potential economic impact stems entirely from possible limitations on development of the designated property, according to Fish and Wildlife. The total potential value loss is 21 percent of the property’s market value. The actual loss would depend on the future sale price, and could range from $132,300 to $441,000.
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