FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Livestock Trampling Threatens Uinta Mountains and Northwest Colorado Wildflower with Extinction

Conservation Coalition Acts to Save Rare Wildflower

Center for Native Ecosystems and the Colorado Native Plant Society submitted a formal petition seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the narrowleaf evening primrose.

Threatened with extinction by mismanaged cattle grazing at the edges of the Uinta Basin of Utah and northwestern Colorado, the narrowleaf evening primrose received critical aid today when Center for Native Ecosystems and the Colorado Native Plant Society submitted a formal petition seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the plant. Though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has previously expressed concern over the plant, it has taken no action to protect its habitat as grazing and dirt bike riding continue to degrade its habitat.

"This rare wildflower is heading for extinction," said Josh Pollock, Center for Native Ecosystems Conservation Director. "Now is the time to act to protect it before it slides further toward irreversible decline."

The narrowleaf evening primrose has large yellow flowers that turn reddish orange as they age. Like most evening primroses, its flowers open near sunset and close again around midmorning.

The narrowleaf evening primrose grows only in moist, open meadows at the eastern edge of the Uinta Mountains and Diamond, Cold Spring, and Douglas Mountains in northwest Colorado, a string of mountains that form the northern boundary of the Uinta Basin. It is limited to only a few soil types and is almost always found in the beds of shallow, ephemeral streams and pools, which are easily disturbed by trampling. Nearly all of its occupied habitat is used for livestock grazing and faces increasing pressure from dirt bikes and other ATVs.

"The narrowleaf evening primrose is only found in a few rare habitats which are often impacted heavily by land use," said Dave Anderson, Vice President of the Colorado Native Plant Society. "It is threatened by poorly managed grazing, off-road vehicle use, and noxious weed invasion. This wildflower is in need of stronger protection."

Complicating the picture of this wildflower’s welfare is the fact that three different federal agencies – the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the National Park Service – are in charge of different populations and none are actively protecting the narrowleaf evening primrose from the land uses that threaten it the most. In Colorado, where most of the narrowleaf evening primrose is found on BLM land, the Little Snake Field Office in northwestern Colorado has begun revising their management plan, but the existing one includes no specific protection for the habitat of this plant and it is unclear whether the new one will do so.

This native plant's precarious status is well known. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program classifies the plant as "imperiled" and at risk of extinction, and the Bureau of Land Management in Colorado considers the narrowleaf evening primrose a "sensitive species" but so far has not taken the step of protecting the plant or its habitat.

"The narrowleaf evening primrose is a part of Colorado’s unique natural heritage," said Anderson.

"Unless we grant it the protection it deserves, this wildflower could be trampled into oblivion," said Pollock. "We can do better."

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