Almost 600 plant species have been lost from the wild in the last 250 years, according to a comprehensive study.
The number is based on actual extinctions rather than estimates, and is twice that of all bird, mammal and amphibian extinctions combined.
Scientists say plant extinction is occurring up to 500 times faster than what would be expected naturally.
In May, a UN report estimated that one million animal and plant species were threatened with extinction. (http://Plant extinction ‘bad news for all species’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48584515)
Here are some of the delicate clarkias (wine cups) that face extinction here in Big Sur due to off-roading:
How do these delicate flowers face extinction here in Big Sur? From this:
It’s a greed thing. It’s almost like “There’s some empty land that is beautiful. I think I’ll go four-wheel it up”! Even here in Oklahoma where they actually build a four-wheel course for everybody, it’s not good enough. There’s always some beautiful land that needs tracks all over it. Shameful!!!
Same here. We were up in the hills yesterday when we came across a dead fawn, perhaps just a few days old that looked like it had been run into on single lane dirt road. The tracks and the poor fawn’s marks in the dirt showed it had struggled to drag itself away from the tracks of a dirt bike. The mother was still hanging around. So. very. sad. and shameful. This, in addition to the four-wheel idiots who terrorize our ‘protected’ botanical areas.