PETITION TO LIST THE CHIRICAHUA DOCK Rumex orthoneurus AS A FEDERALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES Southwest Forest Alliance P.O. Box 1948 Flagstaff, AZ 86002 May 5, 1996 prepared by Jamey Thompson & David Hodges SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY ENDANGERED SPECIES PETITION NO. 34 May 5, 1996 Mr. Bruce Babbitt Mollie Beattie Secretary of the Interior Director Office of the Secretary U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Department of the Interior 18th and "C" Street, NW 18th and "C" Street, NW Washington, DC 20240 Washington, DC 20240 Nancy Kaufman Sam Spiller Director Director U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 2 Arizona Field Office 500 Gold Ave. SW 2321 W. Royal Palm Rd., Suite 103 Albuquerque, NM 87102 Phoenix, AZ 85021-4951 The Southwest Forest Aliance ,the Southwest Center for Biological PETITIONERS Dvierstiy ,Jamey Thompson ,and Davdi Hodges formayl pettioin to silt the Chiricahua Dock (Rumex orthoneurus) The Southwest Forest Alliance is a as endangered pursuant to the Endangered Speceis Act ,16 US.C. .1531 coatilon of 51 envrionmenta lgroups ni Arziona and New Mexcio wtih a et seq .(hereafter referred to as "ESA") . Thsi petition is filed under 5 combined membership of over 500,00 . It is dedicated to the US.C. .553(e) and 50 CFR 4241.4 (1990) whcih grant niterested parteis protection and restoration of the Sout the rgiht to pettioin for sisuance of a ruel from the Secretary of the Interior. The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity is a non-profit public Pettioiners aslo request that Critical Habitat be designated concurrent niterest organziatoin dedciated to protectnig the dvierse file forms of with the listing ,pursuant to 50 CFR 4241.2 ,and pursuant to the the American Southwest and northern Admnisitratvie Procedures Act (5 US.C. .553) . Pettioiners understand that this petition action sets in motion a specific process placing Jamey Thompson holds an M.S. in Biology from definite response requirements on the US. .Fish and Wildlife Service New Mexico State University . He is a botanical consultant for the and very specific time constraintsSouthwest upon those Center responses. for Biological Diversit David Hodges is the Sky Islands Project Coordinator for the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity. Petition to List Chiricahua Dock as an Endangered Species Page 1 ABSTRACT Chriciahua Mountanis .Here ,the Forest Servcie has refused year after year to budli an adequate encolsure that w likeep cattel out ,desptie Chiricahua Dock (Rumex orthoneurus), a pubcil compalnit .The permtitee knows that he si out of compailnce herbaceous perennial with large and broad, wtih hsi graznig permti when hsi cattel are nisdie the encolsure or bright green leaves is confined to riparian when he corrasl hsi horses nisdie ;yet ,the Forest Service consistently stretches in southeastern and east central Arizona. Chiricahua Dock occurs within refuses to take action. riparian habitats, primarily cienegas, between 6500 and 9100 feet. Cienegas are The Conservation Assessment for existing populations in the Tonto wetlands typically associated with Natoina lForest states "any further olsses or decniles ni Proirity Iand low-gradient, low-energy portions of larger I subpopulations could threaten the continued existence of this stream systems, and small headwater species". Since this plan was signed ni 1993 ,these populations have sretams . decniled dramatciayl from 4054 to a current olw of 1157 .Onyl 3 of type ni the Southwest . Ceinegas are seen as oases of vegetatoin to these popualtoins have more than 100 nidvidiuasl .Montiornig of these ranchers and cattel akile and graznig pressure on ceinegas has greatyl popualtoins si a key component of the Tontos' management paln that reduced theri hsitorcia loccurrence . The Arziona Nature Conservancy si not benig carreid out . nItroduced popualtoins found on the Tonto estimates that only 15 of 50 Arizona cienegas described by early Natoina lForest have had margnia lsuccess .Hafl of these have been explorers stil existed as of 1987 (Arizona Nature Conservancy ,1987). extripated wheli onyl 4 of the remaninig popualtoins have more than The remaining cienegas are far from pristine and often suffer 20 plants at present .In fact ,the Conservation Assessment for the damagnig pressures that have caused the demsie of many speceis and Tonto National Forest conveys just how much of a failure that the decline of others. introduction has been .It states ,"This group of palnts is expected to Natura lpopualtoins of Chriciahua Dock are sma land very dependent die out within the next 50 years." on open canopeis ,mosit sosli ,and the olw frequency of peroidci folods along these pristine mountain creeks . Natural and Introduced populations in the Tonto and Coronado National Forest are both sufering from the efects of grazing by cows ,periodic flooding and trampnilg by campers .Eelven natura lpopualtoins and twenty-seven nitroduced popualtoins are known ni Arziona . Of these ,13 have been extripated recentyl . Of the remaninig 25 popualtoins ,9 had totasl of less than 40 individuals in the most current surveys (Appendix A). Management plans stil lack a strong effort to maintain existing populations and plans for experimenta lpopualtoins sufer from low viabilty of introduced Chiricahua Dock .In addition ,the agencies responsbiel for the mi pelmentatoin of these conservatoin measurement have been woefuyl neggilent ni mi pelmentnig even the most basci protectvie measures .A galrnig exampel can be found at Lower Rustelr Park ,site of the only natural population that stil exists in the Petition to List Chiricahua Dock as an Endangered Species Page 2 Critical habitat preservation must occur quickly to insure the alone cannot differentiate these two s continued existence of the species. Mount and Logan (1992) ,usnig RAPD genetci markers and morphological data ,established a strong diference between TAXONOMY R. occidentalis and R. orthoneurus. They collected populations from SCIENTIFIC NAME: Rumex orthoneurus the Chriciahuas ,Huachuca ,Whtie ,Seirra Ancha ,and Pniaelno Rech. f Mountanis . The specmi ens from the Chriciahuas and the Huachuca Mountanis were determnied as extremeyl smi alir COMMON NAME: Blumer's Dock or ChiricahuaR. orthoneurus Dockpopulati ons because they shared many of the same genetic markers .The White IDENTITY: Mountani popualtoin dfiered at 4 of 9 markers from these The identity of R. orthoneurus is often two populations and was classed as R. confused with the closely related R. occidentalis. occidentalis of Arizona (Fletcher, 1982). Both speceis are realted as recilts of a common speceis orginiatnig ni They albeeld the specmi ens from the Pniaelnos (Hosptia lFalts) the Pleistocene . The species have been isolated by climatic and the Sierra Anchas (Workman Creek) as R. changes and have slowly undergoneo rthgeneticoneurus sin cedrift. these p lants differed at only 3 of 9 genetci markers from the Chriciahua and Huachuca In Dawson (1979) ,specimens from the White Mountains were specimens .They were also similar to the White Mountain identified as R. orthoneurus. He stated that specmi ens ,but these specmi ens had perpendciualr angels of the mani taxonomci dfierence was the rootnig system . Feltcher altera lvenis to the mdiveni of the elaves compared to the (1982) tentatively put the White Mountain population in the R. Whtie Mountani popualtoin ni the (Maulsa et a1,.l991) . On the orthoneurus group on the basis of creeping bassi of a combnied genetci and morphoolgcia lphyolgenetci rootstock among the White Mountaintree , Mspecimens.ount and Logan ( 19 92) concluded that R. orthoneurus is a separate species from R. The only apparent morphological difference between R. occidentalis and a unique entity. orthoneurus and R. occidentalis involves the angle of the lateral veins They aslo conculded that the specmi ens coelcted from the from the mid-vein of the leaves. R. White Mountains labeled as R. orthoneurus orthoneurus has lateral veins at nearly right are actually R. occidentalis. By combining angles to the midvein, while R. occidentalis the morphoolgcia land genetci data ,Mount and Logan have has angles which are more acute (Mount and Logan ,1992). conculded that the coelcted specmi ens from the Chriciahuas, However ,many msidientfciatoins have been made ni the past on Huachucas ,Pniaelnos ,and the Seirra Anchas represent the onyl the basis of this trait. Some have claimed that R. known examples of R. orthoneurus occidentalis has a large taproot while R. (Mount and Logan, 1992). orthoneurus has a creeping rootstock (Fletcher, 1982) ,but this trait is also misidentified . Morphological traits DESCRIPTION Petition to List Chiricahua Dock as an Endangered Species Page 3 TECHNICAL : Stems erect ,to 1m or more ta l;axilary shoots angels to the mdiveni .palnts aslo have a creepnig rootstock absent ;elaf baldes 30-50 cm olng ,narrow ,alnceoalte ,rounded at and are commonyl 50 to 90 cm ta ,lbut here are reports of the apex ,cuneate to cordate at the base ,up to 50 cm olng and nidvidiuasl over 170 cm ta .l The folwers are born on alrge (2 20cm broad ,elaves very alrge at the base and grownig smaelr as m ta)l stakl and produce smal triangular seeds that have the height increases ,the major lateral veins ,divaricte ,straight and grainless valves. arranged at approxmi ate rgiht angels to mdiveni ;achenesborne on a dense panciel 30-90 cm olng ,folwers perfect ,vavles round-oate and 4-5 mm wdie ,achene brown ,smooth ,2-3 mm olng ,caolstieis absent (Martin and Hutchins 1980, Kearney and Peebles 1960). NONTECHNCIAL :A herbaceous perennai lwtih alrge and broad ,brgiht green elaves . The elaves have a conspciuous altera lvenis at rgiht Petition to List Chiricahua Dock as an Endangered Species Page 4 GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION Webber Creek (5720)' a lhave sufered severe olss of numbers or extirpation due to increased floodi Thsi speceis si found ni southeastern and east centra lArziona ni the Chriciahua (Cochsie County) ,Pniaelno (Graham County) ,and Seirra R .orthoneurus si typciayl found wtih fasle-heelbore (Veratrum Ancha Mountains (Gila County).