Spineflower May Go on Endangered List

Following a request by the city of Calabasas, the California Fish and Game Commission recently decided to consider placing the San Fernando Valley spineflower on the state list of endangered species, officials said Friday.

The decision means the flower, which was thought to be extinct until it was found on Ahmanson Ranch property in Ventura County last summer, will receive protection until a final decision is made, Calabasas Mayor Dennis Washburn said.

“People who live in the territory and are most sensitive to its resource value there have found their hard work has paid off,” Washburn said. “We organized and committed a lot of money to get to this point.” Calabasas has spent about $135,000 for expert testimony and research about the spineflower and its habitat, he added.

The state commission declared the spineflower a candidate for endangered species protection in a unanimous decision June 15. Last year, a field of between 5,000 and 10,000 spineflowers was found on the southern slope of the Laskey Mesa by scientists commissioned by the developer, Washington Mutual Inc., to catalog the property’s flora and fauna.

It was the first time the spineflower had been sighted in about 60 years. In another discovery of the flower earlier this month, a biologist contracted by Newhall Land & Farming Co. found the spineflower on Newhall Ranch property.