Endangered Species Act Protection Affirmed for Two Washington Plants

Federal scientists confirmed today that two extremely rare eastern Washington plants granted Endangered Species Act protection in April 2013 do indeed need protecting. Rejecting a Rep. Doc Hastings-led effort to derail the plan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reaffirmed that the best available science shows that Umtanum desert buckwheat and White Bluffs bladderpod deserve federal protection and designated critical habitat. Protections for the two plants, which are found only in Washington’s Hanford Reach National Monument, are the result of a settlement reached between the Center and the Service in 2011 to speed up protection decisions for 757 species around the country...more