The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the final recovery plan for Agave eggersiana, a plant known only from St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Agave eggersiana was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2014. A draft recovery plan was published in the Federal Register in July 2021 and is now being finalized. This plan includes specific criteria for determining when Agave eggersiana should be considered for delisting, removing it from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants. It also lists site-specific actions that will be necessary to meet those criteria and estimates the time and costs required for implementing actions necessary to achieve recovery. The final recovery plan for the plant is now available at the following website:
https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/7039
Agave eggersiana is found on the north and south coasts of St. Croix. There are only fourteen populations in existence that include both natural and introduced populations and support approximately 1,564 individuals, consisting of 490 adult plants, 644 young adults and more than 430 juveniles. The Service works closely with the National Park Service, Department of Planning and Natural Resources, St. George Village Botanical Garden, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy, East End Marine Park, Hotel on the Cay, and Geographic Consulting on protection of this species.
In order to promote and support the conservation and survival of endangered species and threatened species, and provide a transparent path to achieving recovery, we and our partners develop and implement recovery plans. Recovery plans are unique to each species and serve as central organizing tools that provide important guidance on methods of minimizing threats to listed species, such as restoring and acquiring habitat, removing introduced predators or invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species , conducting surveys, monitoring individual populations, and breeding species in captivity and releasing them into their historical range. Recovery plans identify measurable and objective criteria against which progress towards recovery of a species can be tracked over time. Recovery plans are guidance and not regulatory documents, and no agency or entity is required by the ESA to implement actions in a recovery plan.
For more information on Agave eggersiana, contact Maritza Vargas at maritza_vargas@fws.gov.
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