Endangered Status Sought for Plant at Housing Site

A member of the local chapter of the California Native Plant Society is seeking endangered status for a rare plant that a developer wants to remove from an Oxnard site to make way for luxury homes.

David Magney, an environmental consultant and a former president of the statewide organization, has asked the state Fish and Game Commission to declare the Ventura marsh milk vetch an endangered species.

“The threat is imminent,’ he said Tuesday. “We’re talking about throwing that species away.”

Robert Treanor, the commission’s executive director, could not be reached for comment, but his office confirmed the state has received such a petition and that it has been forwarded for consideration.

The last population of the rare plant was believed to have died out 30 years ago. Several hundred plants were rediscovered last year growing on a former oil dump in northwest Oxnard that an Orange County developer hopes to transform into a 364-home subdivision.

The preferred alternative is to transplant the surviving plants in another location. However, the developer has said a 3 1/2-acre fenced preserve to protect about 75% of the plants on-site could also be created, while the rest of the plants are removed.

Magney is confident the commission will grant his request at its hearing next month.

“It is such a strong case there is absolutely no way they can justify anything else,” he said. “Any species that is presumed to be extinct and rediscovered ought to be listed.”

Magney said the society is unconvinced of the viability of the proposal to transplant the rare milk vetch.

Newport Beach-based developer Ron Smith, who is planning the project called North Shore at Mandalay Bay, could not be reached for comment.