This SLO County snail could slither off U.S. endangered species list. Here’s why
Here’s some good news for one of the Central Coast’s slimiest native species.
On July 23, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it has proposed to change the Endangered Species Act status of the Morro shoulderband snail from endangered to threatened — indicating that the mollusk is making a comeback.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Morro shoulderband snail is only found in the Los Osos and Morro Bay area of western San Luis Obispo County.
The Morro shoulderband snail lives in native vegetation on sandy soils of coastal dunes and coastal sage scrub habitats. It has benefited from the protection of coastal dunes and sage scrub habitat preserves, as its population is thought to be stable or increasing, the Center said.
“This is good news for one of the most laid-back native species on the SLO coast,” said Jeff Miller, a senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a July 23 news release. “Like everything it does, this snail is moving very slowly toward recovery.”
Morro shoulderband snails are named for the dark spiral bands on their shells, and are typically found in leaf litter and on shady undersides of the lower branches of native dune shrubs. The mollusks are most active during a heavy fog or rain, and go dormant in the dry summer.
“The Morro shoulderband snail helps to build soil,” Miller said in an email to the Tribune. “Unlike invasive gardens snails, this native snail is not a garden pest and is essentially harmless to gardens.”
The snail species was first protected as endangered in 1994.
Recovery plans for the Morro shoulderband snail began in 1998, and involved identifying four conservation planning areas to focus on habitat protection. The Center for Biological Diversity and Christians Caring for Creation secured protection in 2001 of 2,566 acres of critical habitat for the snail around the community of Los Osos and the Morro Bay Estuary, according to the statement the Center release.
Together, they secured blocks of protected habitat areas in Morro Spit, West Pecho, southern Los Osos and northeastern Los Osos to minimize the snail’s risk of extinction.
“Protecting the little creatures that we don’t often think about is important for preserving our coastal dune and scrub ecosystems,” Miller wrote in an email.
Doing so benefits three other endangered and threatened species which share the snail’s habitat — the Morro Bay kangaroo rat, Morro manzanita and the Indian Knob mountainbalm flower, Miller wrote.
According to the Center, snail population surveys from 2000 to 2005 found more and more snails each year, and in a wider variety of habitat types than previously thought.
The Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2006 status review concluded that the Morro shoulderband snail population is stable to increasing and has a wider range and distribution than thought at time of listing it as endandered.
Recovery criteria for the snail have not been fully achieved, and some of the conservation areas still need management plans, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
To continue to help the snail’s recovery, Miller recommends removing invasive plants and maintaining habitat in local preserves with mature vegetation such as Morro Strand State Beach, Los Osos Oaks State Preserve, Morro Bay State Park, Montana de Oro State Park and Elfin Forest Natural Area.
He also wants people to avoid using snail poison in the Morro shoulderband snail’s native range.