BLM Utah Goose Creek Milkvetch Conservation Agreement Compliance Monitoring Project

Background: A listing for Goose Creek Milkvetch (Astragalus anserinus) under the Endangered Species Act was found not warranted in 2015. This finding was due in part to a Conservation Agreement and Strategy between three Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Districts (Twin Falls in Idaho; Elko in Nevada and West Desert in Utah) and three United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) offices (Idaho State Fish and Wildlife Service, Nevada Fish and Wildlife Service, and Utah Ecological Services Field Office), signed in July 2015. The funding would be used to implement a multi-state monitoring plan as well as determine population trends and well as demography and seed dormancy biology. Objectives: This project would help streamline short- and long-term monitoring of the species in the three states involved. When the listing determination was being made data sets in each state were different, and it was problematic to determine what was happening to the population rangewide. This monitoring would help researchers and the BLM determine population trends, demographics, and seed dormancy to more consistently monitor and manage the species to keep it from becoming listed under the Endangered Species Act. These monitoring efforts also assist BLM in compliance with the signed Conservation Agreement and Strategy. Public Benefit: This would benefit the public by helping to monitor and further conserve the Goose Creek Milkvetch populations in Utah, Idaho, and Nevada. All signatories to the 2015 Conservation Agreement and Strategy are in support of this monitoring strategy for Goose Creek Milkvetch.