Protection Urged for Rare Herb : Environment: Two planned developments in Orange County could be affected if the rare plant makes the endangered species list. Public input is sought through Jan. 29.

A rare pink-flowered herb found in Southern California, including two canyons primed for development in Orange County, has been proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the nation’s endangered species list.

The most immediate threats to Braunton’s milk vetch are in Coal and Gypsum canyons in the Santa Ana Mountains of eastern Anaheim, federal officials say. But it also is threatened at its other known locations--Ventura County’s Simi Hills and Los Angeles County’s Santa Monica Mountains.

“At almost every place it exists, it’s in jeopardy, primarily from development,” said Tim Thomas, a botanist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Ventura field office.

Along with last year’s proposal to list the California gnatcatcher, the move toward declaring the plant endangered could signal the beginning of a wave of listings in Southern and Central California over the next few years.

The agency has proposed adding about 20 other Southern California plants to the national list, which means final decisions are less than a year away. Among those, five that are found only in the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills were proposed for listing at the same time as the milk vetch. These are the Lyon’s pentachaeta, which is an aster with yellow flowers that grows in grasslands, and four species of dudleyas, a rare succulent.

Another 70 animals and plants--including three other birds in Orange County--are not as far along in the process, but are still classified as top candidates, with some facing court-ordered deadlines.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published its proposal to protect the milk vetch Nov. 30 and has a year to make a decision. Public input will be accepted through Jan. 29. Like the gnatcatcher, a Southern California songbird, the milk vetch is granted no federal protection during the review.

Earlier this year, the Anaheim City Council approved two large developments without requiring the landowners to avoid the plants or mitigate the damage. Hon Development Co. plans to build 1,550 homes in Coal Canyon, while the Irvine Co. plans to construct Mountain Park, a community of up to 7,996 homes, in adjoining Gypsum Canyon.

Representatives of the two large development companies said they have no plans to alter their projects or fight the proposal. They say many of the plants were found on land slated for open space, so they believe their projects would not be significantly affected if the milk vetch were designated as endangered. Neither company has firm dates for start of construction.

Local environmentalists are pleased by the agency’s proposal, although they had hoped the federal agency would grant an immediate, emergency listing.

“It definitely should be listed. It’s one of the rarest plants around,” said Connie Spenger, a botanist and president of Friends of Tecate Cypress, an environmental group trying to preserve Coal Canyon. “It’s a fantastic plant. It’s really pretty. . . . We’re working as hard as we can to prevent further destruction of the Braunton’s milk vetch.”

When a plant is listed as endangered, private landowners do not have to obtain permits or formally consult with the federal wildlife agency, as they must when an animal is declared endangered. However, they have to document the threat and are encouraged by the federal agency to develop scientifically sound ways to protect the plant.

“Once a plant is listed, they (developers) can’t ignore it,” Thomas said. “I would think project redesign is feasible. It’s just a matter of whether they are willing to try to come up with protection or not.”

Compensating for damage to the milk vetch is more difficult than for many species because it cannot be transplanted and is sensitive to any urban intrusion, according to botanists. The only way to save it, they say, is to leave the land untouched and surround it with a large buffer.

“Nobody knows how to move it to another location,” Thomas said. “It is a plant that absolutely depends on on-site, intact preservation.”

The perennial herb has been considered for the federal endangered species list for 18 years. But changes in the law and enormous backlogs at the agency delayed the formal listing proposal until the Anaheim development plans came to the attention of federal officials.

A member of the pea family, the plant grows only in limestone in mountainous areas lined with chaparral. It can grow up to five feet tall and its pointed, fuzzy, gray-green leaves spread into rambling plants with tight clusters of mauve-colored flowers on long stalks.

Its most remarkable characteristic is that it is visible only for about three years following wildfires, which normally occur in intervals of 20 to 50 years. In the meantime, thousands of its seeds lie undetected and dormant until they are stimulated by the next fire.

Fewer than 300 plants are currently growing, making it one of the rarest plants found, according to the agency’s proposed rule. Six of its eight remaining populations are jeopardized by recently approved developments, while the others are indirectly threatened, the report says.

Together, the Anaheim developments “will eliminate 50% of the population in the Santa Ana Mountains,” the wildlife agency report says. Another growing site has recently been wiped out in Monrovia, and “significant losses” have occurred recently at two others, in Santa Ynez Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains and Ventura County’s Simi Hills, the federal document says. Still another is endangered by an approved development in the Simi Hills.

After a sprawling 1982 fire, more than 400 Braunton’s milk vetches were found in Coal Canyon in 1986, including 151 in the lower ridge the city has approved for development, according to a field report written by Spenger. The plants haven’t been seen there since 1988, but dormant seeds probably remain.

Michael Mohler, vice president of Laguna Hills-based Hon Development, said “the vast majority” of the plants are in areas of Coal Canyon slated for open space.

“We will be very responsive to whatever suggestions come out of any listing. But at this point in time, the plant is not listed, and there are no suggested mitigation measures. There is no data available on how to handle this plant. . . . Nobody can even find it right now, because it trails fire,” he said. “It’s just a hypothetical listing at this point, and should that stop a development and jeopardize so many jobs?”

Plant in Peril Common Name: Braunton’s milk-vetch

Scientific Name: Astragalus brauntonii

Range: Three populations remain--Orange County’s Coal and Gypsum canyons, portions of Ventura County’s Simi Hills and Santa Ynez Canyon in Los Angeles County’s Santa Monica Mountains

Description: With fuzzy, gray-green leaves, it can reach a height of 5 feet. Its mauve-colored flowers grow in tight clusters on long stalks. It is a perennial herb in the pea family.

Habitat: It is found among chaparral, and can grow only out of limestone

Unusual Characteristics: The seeds lie dormant, usually for decades, until they are stimulated by wildfires. Then the plants appear for only about three years before they disappear.

Threats: The plant, discovered in 1902, has always been rare, but it is now considered on the verge of extinction because of urban development and alteration of normal fire cycles. There are no known sites unthreatened by new development, including Coal and Gypsum canyons. Only a small part is on public land, and there it is jeopardized by recreational activities.Nomenclature: This milk vetch is named after Ernest Braunton, who was editor of California Floriculturist. He discovered the plant in 1902 in what is now West Hollywood. The name milk vetch comes from the old belief that goats eating the plant yielded more milk.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.