Once Endangered, This Plant Has Now Fully Recovered

Following nearly four decades of conservation efforts, the once-endangered golden aster has regained its rights in Florida, the United States, no longer requiring protection as a threatened flora species.

“Good habitat management ensures the Florida golden aster will thrive and continue to increase in number,” claims Mike Oetker, the Service’s Southeast Regional Director. “This success is due in large part to our conservation partners at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and county natural resource managers in west central Florida.”

In 1986, when the Florida golden aster – or Chyrsopsis floridana­ – was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), only nine clusters could be found in Hillsborough County. Thirty-seven years later, 30 yellow daisy-like perennial herb populations grow across five counties – Manatee, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Highlands, and Hardee – east and southeast of Tampa Bay in west Central Florida. To achieve this feat, habitat was acquired, and plants were propagated and reintroduced to new sites in strategic areas. Since the ESA delisted the aster as an endangered or threatened species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will no longer protect it but vows to implement a five-year post-delisting monitoring plan to make sure the species’ populations remain stable.