Executive summary – Recovery strategy for the Skinner’s Agalinis (Agalinis skinneriana) in Ontario

Prepared by Jane M. Bowles. Adoption of the Recovery strategy for the Skinner’s Agalinis (Agalinis skinneriana) in Canada (Environment Canada 2012).

The Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA) requires the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry to ensure recovery strategies are prepared for all species listed as endangered or threatened on the Species at Risk in Ontario (SARO) List. Under the ESA, a recovery strategy may incorporate all or part of an existing plan that relates to the species.

Skinner’s Agalinis (Agalinis skinneriana) is listed as endangered on the SARO List. The species is also listed as endangered under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). Environment Canada prepared the Recovery strategy for the Skinner’s Agalinis in Canada in 2012 to meet its requirements under the SARA. This recovery strategy is hereby adopted under the ESA. With the additions indicated below, the enclosed strategy meets all of the content requirements outlined in the ESA.

Skinner’s Agalinis has a very limited distribution in Ontario: at Walpole Island First Nation, on the St. Clair River delta where it grows in fresh to moist tallgrass prairie on sandy loam with few or no trees; and at Reaume Prairie in La Salle, south of Windsor. At the Reaume Prairie, little open prairie habitat remains at the Skinner’s Agalinis location, because woody plant species have encroached onto the site, which has not been burned for several years. Periodic fire may be essential to the maintenance of the habitat type.

Due to the extremely low number of extant occurrences and the lack of detailed knowledge of Skinner’s Agalinis habitat, it is recommended that the precautionary principle should be applied in the regulation of the habitat. At Reaume Prairie, La Salle, it is recommended that the habitat regulation be applied: (1) to the northwest portion of the Reaume Prairie Environmentally Significant Area at the location where Skinner’s Agalinis has been recorded in the past; and (2) at other locations of Reaume Prairie Environmentally Significant Area that contain suitable habitat. Suitable habitat would include areas that are open and support a fresh to mesic tallgrass prairie vegetation type, or that could be restored to a similar habitat type and that have similar surface hydrology.

Since the specific location of this annual species may vary from year to year depending on seed dispersal, moisture conditions, burning and other factors, suitable habitat at Walpole Island First Nation includes the area occupied by extant populations and the extent of contiguous surrounding habitat with the same vegetation structure, a similar species composition and similar moisture regime.

Walpole Island First Nation’s position is that it has never ceded or surrendered lands on the deltaic deposits at the mouth of the St. Clair River. In the opinion of the author, it is recommended that the government of Ontario not apply a habitat regulation for Skinner’s Agalinis on Walpole Island First Nation lands.

Executive summary – Recovery strategy for the Skinner’s Agalinis (Agalinis skinneriana) in Canada

Prepared by Environment Canada (2012).

Skinner’s Agalinis (Agalinis skinneriana) is a pale green, slender, annual herb, with a global range from Ohio and southwestern Ontario west to Minnesota and south to Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Tennessee. The species also occurs in Maryland. Although extant sites are known from 12 states, the majority of these sites are located in one state – Missouri. In Canada, there are currently two extant populations of Skinner’s Agalinis on the Walpole Island First Nation in the St. Clair River delta, southwestern Ontario. The status of the Skinner’s Agalinis population on the Reaume Prairie in the city of LaSalle, Essex County, southwestern Ontario has yet to be determined. Skinner’s Agalinis is listed as endangered on Schedule 1 of the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA).

Threats identified to the Canadian population of Skinner’s Agalinis include but are not limited to: habitat loss or degradation, changes in ecological dynamics and natural processes, invasive species and disturbance. Skinner’s Agalinis is also limited by its small population size and geographically-isolated population. Given that the species is found at the northern extent of its range and has a naturally limited distribution in Canada, it will likely always be vulnerable to anthropogenic and natural stressors.

Although there are unknowns regarding the feasibility of recovery, in keeping with the precautionary principle, a full recovery strategy has been prepared as would be done when recovery is determined to be feasible. The population and distribution objective is to maintain the two extant Canadian populations of Skinner’s Agalinis at their current abundance and distribution.

The broad strategies to recovery include but are not limited to: protection, conservation and management of Skinner’s Agalinis habitat, monitoring and assessment of extant populations, investigation of the species presence at recently (as of 1985) occupied sites and addressing biological knowledge gaps.

Critical habitat for this species is not identified at this time. Once adequate information is obtained, critical habitat will be identified and may be described within an area-based, multispecies at risk action plan developed in collaboration with the Walpole Island First Nation. One or more such action plans will be completed for Skinner’s Agalinis by December 2017. The identification of critical habitat on the Reaume Prairie is contingent on confirmation of Skinner’s Agalinis presence at this location.