https://www.miningweekly.com

Rodents, not mining, caused damage to Nevada wildflowers, says govt agency

7th December 2020

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

Widespread damage to rare Nevada wildflowers in September was due to ground squirrels, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said on Friday, and not linked to human activity in the area, which includes a lithium mine being developed by Australia's ioneer.

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), a non-profit group, last month said conservationists discovered that "someone had dug up and destroyed" more than 17 000 Tiehm's buckwheat plants, a rare Nevada wildflower the Fish and Wildlife Service said this summer may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.

"This appears to have been a premeditated, somewhat organized, large-scale operation aimed at wiping out one of the rarest plants on Earth," the CBD said at the time.

The CBD had sued US regulators last year for granting ioneer permits to explore for lithium in the northern part of Nevada, arguing that the region where the company is operating is the main habitat for the flower. The environmental group pulled that suit last January after ioneer agreed to take additional measures to protect the plant.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said on Friday that environmental DNA analysis conducted on damaged roots of Tiehm's buckwheat, nearby soils and rodent scat strongly support that ground squirrels were responsible for the recent damage.

Current drought conditions likely motivated the rodents to seek moisture by consuming the shallow taproots of mature buckwheat plants, the report said.

The CBD said the report would not deter its ongoing efforts to add the flower to the list of protected species under the Environmental Species Act. A judge is expected to rule later this month on the CBD's request.

Adding the flower to the list would prohibit ioneer from mining lithium at that site, though the company would still have access to nearby acreage.

"Whether it was rodents or humans, Tiehm's buckwheat obviously is in dire need of protection, and we feel confident a judge will agree with that assessment," said Patrick Donnelly, the CBD's Nevada state director.

Ioneer said the company would continue to work to "ensure the protection and propagation of this species."

Edited by Reuters

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION