Four plants that are federally listed as threatened or endangered are common in the northern San Bernardino Mountains, where they occur on soils developed from carbonate (limestone or dolomite) rock. The four plants are Parish’s daisy, Cushenbury oxytheca, Cushenbury buckwheat, and Cushenbury milk-vetch. The San Bernardino Mountains carbonate deposit is valuable to the California economy and is mined by Specialty Minerals Inc. (SMI) and others for a variety of mineral products. 

The SMI Lucerne Valley plant was a key member of a working group comprising government agencies, mining entities, claim holders, and conservation advocates that came together to resolve issues of ecology and business. The group developed a plan to allow continued mining of the most valuable mineral deposits while also ensuring the long-term conservation of the plants and plant habitat. This forward-looking approach—a creative design of land exchanges, conservation banking, and conservation credits to establish and grow a habitat reserve for the plants—is codified in the Carbonate Habitat Management Strategy (CHMS). The major provisions of the CHMS are (1) to establish large core conservation areas prior to approving new mining plans, and (2) to require additional habitat set-aside on a per-acre basis for new mining approvals. All parties have agreed to the CHMS, which is now the rulebook for conservation efforts and mineral resource development alike.