Environment

Rare Virgin Islands Plant Being Listed as Endangered Species by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on Wednesday said it was finalizing the listing of the marron bacora, a rare Virgin Islands plant, as an endangered species. The plant was proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in August 2020. According to the release, with only seven remaining populations on the island of St. John, marron bacora is currently in danger of extinction. Of those seven remaining populations, all but one occurs within the boundaries of the Virgin Islands National Park. A population discovered by staff from the Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew) and the National Park Trust of the Virgin Islands (NPTVI) in 2018 on the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, extended the species’ range to that island. In addition to finalizing the listing of this plant, the Service is also finalizing its critical habitat.  “Species like marron bacora that are found in limited numbers on parts of only one or two Caribbean islands deserve special conservation attention,”...