{"id":348013,"date":"2021-10-02T11:18:22","date_gmt":"2021-10-02T08:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/endangered-status-proposed-for-nevada-flower-at-lithium-mine\/"},"modified":"2021-10-02T11:18:22","modified_gmt":"2021-10-02T08:18:22","slug":"endangered-status-proposed-for-nevada-flower-at-lithium-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/endangered-status-proposed-for-nevada-flower-at-lithium-mine\/","title":{"rendered":"#Endangered status proposed for Nevada flower at lithium mine"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Endangered status proposed for Nevada flower at lithium mine<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"Endangered
\n This photo taken in June 2019 in the Silver Peak Range of western Nevada about halfway between Reno and Las Vegas shows Tiehm’s buckwheat growing in the high desert where a lithium mine is planned. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed on Friday that the rare wildflower that’s not known to exist anywhere else in the world be listed as a U.S. endangered species. Credit: Patrick Donnelly\/Center for Biological Diversity via AP
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Federal wildlife officials proposed endangered species protections Friday for a desert wildflower known to exist only on a remote Nevada ridge where an Australian company plans a lithium mine.<\/p>\n


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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposed rule to add Tiehm’s buckwheat to the endangered list, subject to 60 days of public comment.<\/p>\n

“We find that Tiehm’s buckwheat is in danger of extinction throughout all of its range due to the severity and immedia<\/a>cy of threats currently impacting the species now and those which are likely to occur in the near term,” the agency said.<\/p>\n

The primary threats are destruction, modification or curtailment of its habitat from mineral exploration and development, road development and other vehicle use, livestock grazing, invasive plant species and herbivory, the agency said. Climate change may further exacerbate the risks, and “existing regulatory mechanisms may be inadequate to protect the species,” it said.<\/p>\n

The Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition for the listing in 2019 and filed a lawsuit last year in an effort to force the protections and halt plans for the mine.<\/p>\n

Officials with Ioneer Ltd., which is constructing the lithium mine on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land southwest of Tonopah, said Friday they have long anticipated the listing and factored efforts to protect the plant into the mine’s design. Lithium is a key element in batteries for electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

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\"Endangered
\n This photo taken in June 2019 in the Silver Peak Range of western Nevada about halfway between Reno and Las Vegas shows Tiehm’s buckwheat growing in the high desert where a lithium mine is planned. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed on Friday that the rare wildflower that’s not known to exist anywhere else in the world be listed as a U.S. endangered species. Credit: Patrick Donnelly\/Center for Biological Diversity via AP
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“We fully support the decisions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the work it and the BLM are undertaking to safeguard Tiehm’s buckwheat,” Ioneer managing director Bernard Rowe said in a statement. “Ioneer reiterates its commitment to preservation of this species.”<\/p>\n

Fewer than 44,000 of the plants are known to exist, the Fish and Wildlife Service said, and the number may be even lower after an unprecedented attack by rodents last summer. The wildflowers are found only between elevations of 5,900 and 6,200 feet (1,800 and 1,900 meters) in eight tiny subpopulations in the Rhyolite Ridge area of the Silver Peak Range, about halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Patrick Donnelly, the Center for Biological Diversity’s Nevada state director, said a survey conducted by the California Botanic Garden this summer found fewer than 16,000 plants.<\/p>\n

The proposed listing marks a “banner day for native plant conservation,” Donnelly said.<\/p>\n