County, she retrieved a specimen of this previously unrecorded plant and named this species after J. B. Hickman. Hickman was her guide on that collecting trip, and was the horticultural commissioner of Monterey County. Conservation status In 1973, the state of California recognized Hickman's potentilla as an endangered species. In the early to mid 1990s, a series of steps occurred that led to federal classification as an endangered species. Certain land development proposals came before the city of Monterey related to pine forest habitat area. In preparing an environmental impact report, information on occurrences of Hickman's potentilla was published. Subsequently, in 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) acted on this new information regarding a species that some thought extinct, and promulgated a notice of intent to classify the species as endangered. In 1998, the FWS officially classified Hickman's potentilla as endangered. After the FWS nomination process, further colonies in San Mateo and Sonoma Counties became defined. This chain of events illustrates the role of the environmental impact statement in elucidating scientific information germane to the understanding of an entire species, beyond the intended role of analyzing effects on the physical environment of a specific project. P. hickmanii continues to be pressured by urban development, especially on the Monterey Peninsula, with chief elements of golf courses and housing to support the expanding human population. These pressures are partially mitigated by species protection and recovery plans, the latter of which are recognized by the county, local cities, Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, and the state of California. However, the lack of any funding to implement any recovery plans causes the plans to only exist on paper, and the species is still in serious jeopardy without any annual action or recovery activities on the ground. The federal recovery plan (internationally called biodiversity action plan) is general in nature, calling for more natural-history study, population surveys, generalized protection, and a vague reference to new plantings. One of the best efforts to enhance the species may come from a program that is seemingly unaware of the species. The Fitzgerald Marine Reserve master plan calls for natural vegetative enhancement of Vicente Creek (exact location of the 1933 colony), including removal of fill and debris from the creek and extirpation of invasive plants. A chief rationale for this plan is protection of the California red-legged frog, also an endangered species. As a further measure