CNDDB News Blog

Photos: CDFW photos of Surf thistle (Cirsium rhothophilum) by Raffica La Rosa and Milo Baker's lupine (Lupinus milobakeri) by Jeb Bjerke.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has initiated recovery planning for two plant species, Surf thistle (Cirsium rhothophilum) and Milo Baker’s lupine (Lupinus milobakeri). Surf thistle will undergo a five-year species review (Fish & G. Code, §§ 2072.3 & 2077) to determine if the conditions that led to its original listing of threatened under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) have changed, to provide recommendations regarding the species’ status and management to the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission), and to collect any information that will further recovery planning for this species.

Milo Baker’s lupine recently underwent a five-year species review and a status review by the Department with a recommendation of a listing status change from threatened to endangered. The Commission subsequently determined that a change in listing was warranted and listed Milo Baker’s lupine as endangered under CESA. We are seeking any additional information that will further recovery planning for this species.

As part of this process, the CNDDB would like to encourage anyone who has observed Surf thistle and/or Milo Baker’s lupine to submit their findings to us. People who have questions or comments about the review process should email our native plant Recovery Coordinator. The deadline to submit data and comments is September 30, 2026, to allow us sufficient time for evaluation.

Surf thistle is a low-growing, short-lived perennial thistle that occurs on coastal dunes from Pismo Beach to Santa Barbara, occurring in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Milo Baker’s lupine is a tall, annual lupine that occurs in Round Valley in Mendocino County. Take of these species is prohibited without the appropriate permit(s), including for scientific, educational or management purposes. For more information on permitting, visit our CESA permits web page.

We need your help in better understanding the complete distributions of Surf thistle and Milo Baker’s lupine. If you have ever found them in the wild, submit your findings to us through our Online Field Survey Form.

Photo credit: California Academy of Sciences

It is now easier than ever for the California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) to incorporate your iNaturalist records for sensitive plant and wildlife taxa, thanks to the California Biodiversity Data Exchange (CalBioDEx, for short). This is a first-of-its-kind partnership between the CDFW, the California Academy of Sciences, and iNaturalist in order to facilitate data sharing of iNaturalist records for sensitive species with CDFW for species conservation and management decisions.

The CNDDB has long maintained an iNaturalist project to reach out to individuals about their sensitive species observations, which currently has 150,000+ observations of over 2,400 sensitive species. Observations that you opt to share with CDFW through the CNDDB project will continue to be a valuable resource, especially when users fill out the suggested observation fields (number observed, reproductive evidence, etc.).

A more streamlined data flow between iNaturalist and CDFW will make it easier for CNDDB staff to process that data into Element Occurrences (EOs), which are broadly used for environmental review and conservation purposes, as well as to inform state and global conservation status ranks. We expect it will take several years for iNaturalist observation data to be fully integrated into the CNDDB system. Submitting data to iNaturalist will not satisfy project or permit requirements to submit data to CNDDB; direct submissions to CNDDB will continue to be important.

 As part of the data exchange, we are also working with our partners at the Academy and iNaturalist to identify data gaps for sensitive species and leverage targeted citizen science campaigns to fill in those gaps. As part of this collaboration, CalBioDEx has developed an outreach campaign focusing on increasing the number of high-quality iNaturalist observations of clovers (Trifolium spp.) and milkvetches (Astragalus spp.). You can start Counting Clover and Mapping Milkvetch (PDF) right now by joining the project and keeping an eye out for these often-overlooked plants. The event runs from March through August, and we’ll be highlighting some of the neat CNDDB-tracked clovers and milkvetches you may encounter in future updates!

The following CNDDB documents have been updated:

• Special Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Lichens List (PDF)
• Endangered, Threatened, and Rare Plants List (PDF)
• Changes to the CNDDB Special Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Lichens List (PDF)
• Special Animals List (PDF)
• Endangered and Threatened Animals List (PDF)

Links to the T&E and Special Plants/Animals lists can be found on the CNDDB Plants and Animals web page. More information about state listing can be found on the California Fish and Game Commission CESA web page and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife CESA web page. If you have any questions about these lists, please email us at CNDDB@wildlife.ca.gov.