Prepared by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Adoption of the Recovery Strategy for the Common Hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata) in Canada (Parks Canada Agency 2012).

The Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA) requires the Minister of Natural Resources to ensure recovery strategies are prepared for all species listed as endangered or threatened on the Species at Risk in Ontario (SARO) List. Under the ESA, a recovery strategy may incorporate all or part of an existing plan that relates to the species.

The Common Hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata) is listed as threatened on the SARO List. The species is also listed as threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). Parks Canada Agency prepared the Recovery Strategy for the Common Hoptree in Canada in April, 2012 to meet its requirements under the SARA. This recovery strategy is hereby adopted under the ESA. With the additions indicated below, the enclosed strategy meets all of the content requirements outlined in the ESA.

Section 7 of the federal recovery strategy provides an identification of critical habitat (as defined under the SARA). Identification of critical habitat is not a component of a recovery strategy prepared under the ESA. However, it is recommended that the approach used to identify critical habitat in Section 7 be considered when developing a habitat regulation under the ESA.

Executive summary

Prepared by Parks Canada Agency

The Common Hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata), designated as Threatened in Canada, is a short-lived, shade intolerant tree of diminutive stature. It is found primarily on sandy, well-drained, often dry, naturally-disturbed shorelines, in adjacent open areas, and on alvars. These habitats are naturally limited in their distribution and thus Common Hoptree is always believed to have been rare in Canada where its range is primarily restricted to the north shore of Lake Erie and the western Lake Erie islands. A few inland populations occur along historic shorelines in southern Ontario. Male and female trees, usually separate, do not occur at all sites. Pollinators are required and although the seeds are wind-borne, they do not typically travel far.

The species, at the northern edge of its range, occurs in seven, naturally- fragmented core areas (Middle Island, Pelee Island, Essex County [including Point Pelee National Park], Walpole Island First Nation, Rondeau Provincial Park/Erieau, Port Burwell Provincial Park, and the Regional Municipality of Niagara). The largest occur at the east and west ends of Lake Erie, as well as on Middle and Pelee Islands in the western basin of Lake Erie. Smaller populations are scattered along the intervening Lake Erie shoreline, as well as at Walpole Island, along the Niagara River, and on historic beach ridges near Thamesville and Brantford. Thirty-five of 39 populations are extant. Of those remaining, one has been transplanted, one has been lost, and two are considered historic. Many others are of cultivated origin. The majority (possibly 96%) of Canadian trees are found in a 1.75 km2 area within the mainland portion of Point Pelee National Park. The remaining individuals can be found within a relatively small area of occupancy.

Range-wide, populations appear to be in a slight decline. Primary threats include the impacts of landscape management; hyperabundant, nesting Double-crested Cormorants; insect herbivores; altered coastal processes; habitat succession; and invasive, exotic plants.

The Common Hoptree population and distribution objectives are:

  • to maintain Common Hoptree populations in the seven core areas previously mentioned, within suitable habitat types (sandy shoreline and alvar),
  • to ensure that the number of mature individuals does not decline below 1000, and
  • where feasible, to increase the size and reproductive capability of the smaller Common Hoptree populations that are currently considered unviable.

The broad strategies to be taken to address the threats to the survival and recovery of the species are presented in Section 6.2, Strategic Direction for Recovery.

This recovery strategy identifies critical habitat for the Common Hoptree in Canada, to the extent possible at this time, based on the best available information. Occupancy-based approaches (suitable, occupied vegetation types where available and an area within which critical habitat [based on biophysical characteristics described] is found around known populations) are used. Activities likely to result in the destruction of critical habitat have been identified, while a schedule of studies lists the additional steps required to complete identification. Methods of habitat conservation on different lands are also summarized.

One or more action plans related to this recovery strategy will be completed by June 2016.