Lawsuit seeks emergency listing of rare Nevada wildflower

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Environmentalists are suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to try to force the emergency listing of a rare wildflower as an endangered species after much of its population was destroyed at the site of a proposed lithium mine in Nevada.

The federal lawsuit the Center for Biological Diversity filed Tuesday also demands the Bureau of Land Management take immediate action to protect Tiehm’s buckwheat. It says the species is on the brink of extinction at the only place it’s known to exist about 200 miles (322 kilometers) southeast of Reno.

Government scientists are continuing to investigate the mysterious, unprecedented loss of thousands of the plants discovered earlier this month at the site Ioneer Ltd. says sits above some of the largest untapped lithium deposits in the world.

They have indicated so far they agree with the Australian mining company’s contention that rodents or other small mammals ate them.

The conservation group says somebody dug up the flowers — as many as 17,000, or 40% of the remaining population. But it said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas that what, or who, is to blame is irrelevant.

“Regardless of the cause, all parties agree that the impact on the plants is `alarming,’ ” the lawsuit said. “Emergency action is essential to address the dire situation of the plant and the on-going risk of further harm.”

Ioneer declined to comment on the lawsuit. The two federal agencies didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Center for Biological Diversity and others petitioned on Oct. 8, 2019, for a listing of the buckwheat under the Endangered Species Act.

The species is found on just 10 acres (4 hectares) of land spread across 2 square miles (5 square kilometers) in the remote...