see..there are almost 50..plenty of em left..lets build a wal mart

[Guest guest]

U.S. Government Declines to Protect Two Rare Plants in U.S. Virgin Islands

 

March 10, 2006 — By Associated Press

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands — The U.S. government has declined to

give federal protection to two plants species found only in the U.S. Virgin

Islands.

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refused to put the plants on the endangered

species list because there was no evidence they were threatened, said Lilibeth

Serrano, a department spokeswoman.

 

The decision comes nearly one year after the U.S. government settled a lawsuit

brought by the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity in which it agreed

to consider whether the agave eggersiana and solanum conocarpum should be

protected. The department's decision was announced Tuesday.

 

" That's a shame, " said Dan Clark, a plant specialist who requested in 2001 that

the plants be protected. " Especially when they're on private property and we

can't protect them, that's tough. "

 

Fewer than 50 specimens of agave eggersiana, an aloe-like plant that grows up to

25 feet (8 meters) tall and has small pink flowers, are left in the U.S. Virgin

Island of St. Croix, while fewer than 200 solanum conocarpum, a bushy plant with

small purple and yellow flowers, remain on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. John,

said Clark, who works with the Virgin Islands National Park.

 

Fish and Wildlife said there was no accurate count of how many plants of each

species were left.

 

The center might sue to have the decision overturned, said Peter Galvin, a

spokesman for the group.

 

Source: Associated Press

 

 

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