Fish and Wildlife Service announced that two rare plants, including Tiehm’s buckwheat, warranted a year-long review of whether to list them as endangered species.
[18]According to information from EM Strategies' Biology Program Manager Kris Kuyper:“Similar herbivory activity has been noted in other mat buckwheat in the area.” Immediately upon learning about the herbivore damage, ioneer began working with the Nevada Division of Forestry (“NDF”) and other regulatory bodies to facilitate a thorough investigation.
With these findings, ioneer hopes to provide possible alternatives and effective measures to mitigate this latest threat from natural causes”[20]“I believe this would be very difficult or impossible to do with a trowel or other small, handheld digging implement humans would have had to use to excavate plants.
However, it is exactly what I would expect to see if a small creature had dug through the dirt to reach the plant roots,” the technician on the survey wrote in response to the report by the Center for Biological Diversity.
Fish & Wildlife Service and the US Bureau of Land Management conducted a DNA analysis of damaged Tiehm’s roots, nearby soils and rodent scat and identified the likely culprit as ground squirrels.
[17] The Center for Biological Diversity discounted the company's and USFWS claims, citing the lack of animal droppings or tracks, suggesting the work of humans.
Dr. Benjamin Grady of Ripon College and President of the Eriogonum Society stated: “After the dust settled, it appeared that either white-tailed antelope ground squirrels or pocket gophers were responsible for the damage to about 60% of the global population of this already rare species.
[24] In April 21, 2021, a federal judge gave the Fish and Wildlife Service 30 days to make a determination on whether to propose protection for Tiehm’s buckwheat.
Fish and Wildlife published a 12-month finding that the petitioned action to list Tiehm’s buckwheat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, is warranted.
The USFWS stated that the Rhyolite Ridge project could have "an immense impact on the overall resiliency and continued viability of the species," as the subpopulation threatened by the mine is also the most productive at recruitment.