Endangered Utah flower gets its very own lawsuit
The target is not a militiaman or a polygamist, or any of the other usual controversial figures that frequent rural Utah. It's a shrubby, endangered flower with a strange name, the Deseret milk-vetch.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. by the Utah Native Plant Society, the Center for Native Ecosystems and Forest Guardians. The suit requests that the Department of the Interior make the Utah Fish and Wildlife Service designate a critical habitat to protect the flower and develop a recovery plan to help it proliferate.
"What's basically prompting this lawsuit is that no recovery plan has been adopted and we're basically running out of time," said Tony Frates, of the Utah Native Plant Society.
The Deseret milk-vetch, or Astragalus desereticus, is known to grow in only one place in the world, an area of slightly less than 300 acres near U.S. 89 between Birdseye and Thistle. The groups who filed the lawsuit say urban sprawl in the area and the possible expansion of the highway pose a critical threat to the survival of the species and action must be taken.
"It's all just potential," said Larry England, a botanist for the agency. "Our concern for this species has been superseded by concerns for other species that are in greater danger. We do not see a great urgency (in this case)."
When the Deseret milk-vetch was placed on the endangered list in 1999, England said wildlife services decided not to designate the area as a critical habitat for the flower (as the lawsuit requests) because doing so would offer no real additional protection.
"When the flower was listed, we considered a critical habitat was not necessary for the conservation of the species," he said. "We're working on a recovery plan for the flower, and we'd like to have it done sooner than later."
Frates said he doesn't believe the agency has been criminally negligent in its treatment of the flower, but it should have done a better job by establishing a critical habitat.
"(The Deseret milk-vetch) has definitely suffered some neglect, but it's not willful or wanton neglect," he said.
Frates said the problem is that state agencies receive very little funding to protect endangered species, and some species slip through the cracks as priorities are made. However, he said Congress has an additional fund set aside for instances where a court forces state agencies to protect additional species.
"The sad thing is that these lawsuits are almost like grant applications," Frates said. "But over the long run, the actions we take now will save taxpayers money."
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