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Research at UNR will put fragile wildflower at risk | Fraga

Naomi Fraga

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This opinion column was submitted by Naomi Fraga, Ph.D., director of conservation programs at the California Botanic Garden in Claremont, California.

All life on earth is precious, irreplaceable and intertwined, yet we have barely scratched the surface of understanding its significance.

This is especially true in Nevada, a state some may write off as barren desert, but in reality is a frontier for biological discovery.

Not long ago an obscure desert wildflower was discovered in one of the most remote corners of the state. This wildflower, Tiehm’s buckwheat (Eriogonum tiehmii), now bears the name of the botanist who discovered it in 1985.

Nevada struck gold when Tiehm’s buckwheat was discovered. This plant is not only a beautiful treasure, but its entire home is restricted to a tiny corner of the state.

Tiehm’s buckwheat has beautiful cream to golden flowers and is small in stature, standing only 6 inches tall. But this small plant is big news.

The wildflower is facing extinction because its entire range sits within the footprint of a proposed lithium mine in Esmeralda County. The open-pit mine proposal, Rhyolite Ridge, is backed by an Australian Company called Ioneer.

More:New deal with mining company to protect rare Nevada plant

This mine could wipe out an entire species, but Ioneer is making the absurd claim that it is an “environmentally friendly operation” that will have “minimal impact.”

The company justifies this by pointing to an Ioneer-funded study with the University of Nevada, Reno to investigate the feasibility of transplanting the buckwheat away from its only known home to a new environment.

As a botanist who has studied plant conservation in the western U.S. for more than 15 years, I must ask: When will biologists and ecologists say “no” to assisting industry with misguided mitigation projects for rare plants?

The ultimate result will be the death of this beautiful plant by a thousand cuts. This approach to species conservation is inconsistent with the concept of minimal impact and does not achieve environmental friendliness or effective conservation in any way.

The rare desert wildflower Tiehm's buckwheat grows in the Silver Peak Range about 120 miles southeast of Reno, the only place it is known to exist.

Plant reintroduction is not a simple task. Despite best efforts by conservation practitioners and scientists, we have little understanding on how to successfully translocate plant populations.

Stories of success are hard to find and ultimately we have learned that protection of species is not possible without the protection of their native ecosystem.

This is especially the case for Tiehm’s buckwheat, a rare wildflower that occupies a unique niche, on specific soils, on less than 21 acres. Its small home cannot be readily duplicated elsewhere.

In nature, organisms do not live in isolation. Plants interact with pollinators, herbivores and microbes in the soil, and have countless other vital interactions that we do not yet understand. Therefore, translocation of individual plants in lieu of protecting them in their native habitat is fundamentally at odds with the principles of conservation.

Total habitat protection is required in order for this species to survive.

The Ioneer-funded research is taking place at the University of Nevada, Reno. While the biologists undertaking this work may not be aware of the status of the proposed mine or the full scope of the threat to Tiehm’s buckwheat, their research fundamentally undermines the protection of the species.

This research does not meet principles for a sound translocation project that advances plant conservation. Justification principles for reintroductions outlined by the Center for Plant Conservation show that this project meets several criteria that indicate a reintroduction project should not proceed.

This includes the fact that the reintroduction will undermine the imperative to protect existing sites, existing threats have not been minimized or managed and suitable habitat is not understood.

Meanwhile, the state of Nevada has an opportunity to end the uncertainty for this special little plant and grant it protection under the state’s native flora protection statute.

Before the pandemic, the state announced that it would evaluate such protections, based on a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity which I helped write. While the delay is understandable given the circumstances, there is no time to lose. The Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources should expeditiously take the necessary steps to protect this plant.

Tiehm’s buckwheat is a species in peril. It’s an irreplaceable piece of the fabric of life in Nevada. We have only known about its existence for the past 35 years, yet it has lived in its home for millennia.

While we must obtain lithium as a part of our renewable energy future, it cannot come at the expense of Nevada’s irreplaceable biodiversity. And Nevada’s scientific community should stop enabling activities that threaten that biodiversity.

The fate of this precious wildflower is in our hands.

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