Dunes Habitat for Milk Vetch Reduced

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday reduced by nearly 60% the amount of land in California’s Imperial Valley considered essential to a broom-like plant’s survival.

Last year, Fish and Wildlife Service biologists in California proposed designating 52,780 acres of the Algodones Dunes as critical habitat for Peirson’s milk vetch. In a final rule published Wednesday, the critical habitat was reduced to 21,863 acres.

The Center for Biological Diversity criticized the decision. The Tucson-based group, which has sued to protect numerous species, including the milk vetch, noted that much of the plant’s critical habitat had previously been protected as wilderness.