Action timeline

October 13, 1998 – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the spreading navarretia as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and issued a recovery plan for the plant.

November 15, 2001 – The Center and the California Native Plant Society sued the Service for its failure to designate critical habitat for the spreading navarretia.

July 8, 2002 – A federal judge ordered the Service to designate critical habitat for the spreading navarretia and seven other listed California plant species.

December 6, 2004 – The Center and the California Native Plant Society submitted comments on the inadequate critical habitat proposal for the spreading navarretia.

October 18, 2005 – The Service published a final rule designating only about 652 acres of critical habitat for the spreading navarretia.

August 28, 2007 – The Center filed a notice of intent to sue the Bush administration for wrongful Endangered Species Act decisions affecting 55 species, including the designation of insufficient critical habitat for the spreading navarretia.

December 19, 2007 – The Center and allies filed suit to challenge the Fish and Wildlife Service's refusal to properly designate and protect critical habitat for 13 imperiled species, including the spreading navarretia.

June 18, 2008 – The Service agreed to consider granting the spreading navarretia more habitat protections. A deadline for a new proposed critical habitat designation was set for 2009, with a final decision slated for the next year.

June 9, 2009 – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a new proposal for critical habitat for the spreading navarretia, but still fell far short of granting the plant the protections it needs. The Service proposed to protect only 6,872 acres of habitat — 35 percent of the 19,399 acres originally identified as essential.

October 6, 2010 – The Service issued a revised critical habitat designation for the spreading navarretia protecting only 6,720 acres as being “essential for the conservation” of the species.

Photo by Ileene Anderson