Rare-wildflower damage probed

Unclear if humans or animals at work at Nevada mine site

RENO, Nev. — State and federal authorities are investigating the mysterious loss of a significant swath of a rare desert wildflower that’s being considered for federal protection at a mine site in Nevada with some of the largest untapped lithium deposits in the world.

The Australian mining company, Ioneer Ltd., and state biologists investigating the incident believe small mammals most likely caused the damage to thousands of plants at the only place Tiehm’s buckwheat is known to exist.

Conservationists suspect a more sinister scenario: Somebody dug them up while federal wildlife officials consider listing the plant as an endangered species.

Nevada’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Fish & Wildlife Service are investigating.

“While the investigation is still underway and the cause has yet to be determined, the evidence reported to us is consistent with herbivore activity,” department spokeswoman Samantha Thompson said in an email.

Thompson said the agency isn’t aware of any similar instance involving Tiehm’s or related species. She said there were no reports of tool marks.

The Center for Biological Diversity, which petitioned to list the plant earlier this year, reported “mass destruction” at the site about 200 miles southeast of Reno to state and federal officials Tuesday.

It estimates as many as 17,000 plants were lost — up to 40% of the population.

Patrick Donnelly, the center’s Nevada director, and Naomi Fraga, director of conservation at the California Botanic Garden in Claremont, discovered and photographed the damage Sunday. They believe the plants were removed with small shovels or spades.

“This appears to have been a premeditated, somewhat organized, large-scale operation aimed at wiping out one of the rarest plants on Earth, one that was already in the pipeline for protection,” Donnelly said.

He wasn’t aware at the time that researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno had observed the same phenomenon Sept. 8 and reported it to the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Division of Natural Heritage.

Elizabeth Leger, a UNR biology professor leading a research effort to try to transplant the wildflower, is among those who suspect small animals caused the damage at the site of the proposed mine with a projected value of more than $1 billion.

“The impact on the plants is very alarming, no matter what the cause,” said Leger, who directs UNR’s Museum of Natural History.

Ioneer executive chairman James Calaway doubts anywhere near 17,000 plants were affected but said it could be in the “low thousands.”

He accused the Center for Biological Diversity of spreading “outlandish, false, inflammatory and irresponsible” statements about possible human involvement.

“It was some rodents that got hungry and thirsty,” Calaway said.

“We all agree it is a tragic event. We are out there working our tails off to try to understand what happened … and take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “It shows that CBD [Center for Biological Diversity] and Patrick Donnelly are willing to literally say anything in order to stop the development of this project.”

Ioneer has spent more than $1 million on conservation efforts at the site rich with lithium needed to manufacture such things as batteries for Tesla’s electric cars. It has also entered into a multiyear research agreement with UNR scientists to study the possibility of transplanting buckwheat grown in a campus greenhouse to the wild.

Calaway said it’s too soon to know but anticipates they’ll remain on schedule to get permits to begin construction by next summer.

“We are in the investigative phase of these animal attacks and trying to understand it in a thorough way,” he said. “We don’t at this time really see any reason why it would slow down or change the timeline.”