Eastern prairie fringed-orchid COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 12

Existing Protection or Other Status

Status Designations

Global Rank

G2 (Imperiled -- Imperiled because of rarity or because of some factor(s) making it very vulnerable to extinction or elimination. Typically 6 to 20 occurrences or few remaining individuals (1,000 to 3,000) (NHIC 2000)

US State Ranks

SRF (State Report False, i.e. not present) in AR, KS, KY, LA, MN, ND, SD;

SX (Extirpated) in MO, NJ, PA;

SH (Historical) in NY, OK;

S1 (Critically Imperiled) in IA, IL, IN, ME, MI, WA, WI;

S2 (Imperiled) in OH.

(The Nature Conservancy pers. comm. 1997, Association for Biodiversity Information 2000)

Ontario Rank

S2 (Very rare – Very rare because of rarity or because of some factor(s) making it very vulnerable to extinction or elimination. Typically 6 to 20 occurrences or few remaining individuals (1,000 to 3,000) (NHIC 2000).

OMNR Designation

Not currently designated.

COSEWIC Designation

Special Concern (COSEWIC 2000).

Regulatory Protection

In 1989, Platanthera leucophaea was officially designated as threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act of 1973 (see Harrison 1988). An export permit is required under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES; Canada 1973, 1975, Appendix II). There is no other formal legal protection in Canada.

Rehabilitation Efforts

Cutting and burning at sites 2 and 3 was inadequate to reduce competition. It needed to be done annually and more vigorously and possibly with some soil disturbance. Burning at site 8 is adequate but there were never big populations, and water level fluctuations are probably insufficient for development of a large population.

Research Programs

In 1985, wildlife agencies established a tallgrass prairie initiative in southwestern Ontario that primarily emphasized the development of a prairie seed nursery that would become self-sustaining. The nursery’s purpose is to provide a local indigenous seed source to help re-establish tallgrass prairie habitat. The project is coordinated by the Rural Lambton Stewardship Network, but includes other groups of private citizens, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and The St. Clair Region Conservation Authority. Woodliffe (pers. com.2000) suggests that there are currently no plans to either propagate or transplant Platanthera leucophaea under this initiative, however Canadian Wildlife Service (2000) states that “the Rural Lambton Stewardship Network, and its partners, hand-planted the Eastern Prairie White Fringed-orchid in remnant sites, and monitored plant development and natural seed production. They also compiled records of the nursery work performed, and produced an educational display outlining the project for public viewing at the Ojibway Nature Centre. Nursery production plots will be expanded in the future to increase seed production, and remnant sites and other appropriate areas will be subject to plantings.”

Research results are available on successful establishment from seed in only 4 years (although these results have yet to be published).

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