Enviro groups petition feds to protect plant habitat

Matt Hildner

Daily Press Writer

MONTROSE — Three environmental and citizens’ groups have called on the federal government to increase the critical habitat for an endangered plant that’s known to exist only in and along the adobe hills of Delta and Montrose counties.

The Center for Native Ecosystems, the Colorado Native Plant Society and Montrose’s Uncompahgre Valley Association filed a petition on Monday with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the hopes of protecting clay-loving wild buckwheat from growing threats such as suburban sprawl, a proposed beltway around Montrose, and the use of off-road vehicles on public lands.

“This really could be a relatively straightforward action for the Fish and Wildlife Service to take that would have a concrete consequence for the species,” said Josh Pollock, executive director for the Center for Native Ecosystems.

Pollard said adding to the designated habitat would increase the consideration federal agencies must give to the species in their management decisions. But unlike provisions for animal species under the Endangered Species Act, a declaration of critical habitat for plant species would have little impact on private landowners.

The plant, which usually measure up to 4 inches high and 6 inches wide and has cream colored flowers, was listed as an endangered species in 1984. At the time of the listing, however, the Fish and Wildlife Service was aware of only one population, roughly eight miles west of Hotchkiss.

Since then, researchers have discovered 15 other populations across areas that total roughly 1,000 acres.The petition calls for habitat protection for all of the population groups, some of which sit in areas that vary in size from 10 acres to hundreds of acres.

One of the larger populations with over 9,000 plants sits on 100 acres within the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area near Peach Valley Road.

“If we’re thinking of the long-term viability of the species and its ability to persist, these are really important to protect,” Pollock said.

The largest population exists on a patchwork of Bureau of Land Management land and private a private holding on the Wacker Ranch roughly a mile from Sunshine Road southeast of Montrose. The site is estimated to contain up to 30,000 plants.

Part of the population sits within the BLM’s Fairview Area of Critical Environmental Concern

The petition claims that this site could be affected by the joint transportation plan being advanced by the City and County of Montrose. Although local officials have publicly balked at the version of the plan that would send the outer arterial through the northern section of the Fairview ACEC, the petition said approximately six of the plant’s population groups could be potentially impacted by the road’s construction.

Although the BLM does not permit off-road vehicle use in the ACECs, the petition claims that the growing use of off-road vehicles is the primary threat to the plants on other sections of public land.

The petition sites residential development in both the county and the city as the biggest threat to the plants on private land.

Chuck Davis, the Endangered Species Act litigation coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the agency would issue a 90-day finding on whether to continue its consideration of the petition. If the agency finds merit in the petition, it would then have an additional nine months to make a determination, although Davis said funding for the decision might not be available until the next fiscal year.

Contact Matt Hildner via e-mail at matth@montrosepress.com