FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oil and Gas Drilling Threatens Wildflower

Feds acknowledge extinction risk

Oil wells in the Uinta Basin may threaten a Utah wildflower with extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today. The Service will formally consider adding Pariette cactus to the list of wildflowers protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Pariette cactus. Photo courtesy of Ben Franklin, Utah Natural Heritage Program.

Oil wells in the Uinta Basin may threaten a Utah wildflower with extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today.  The Service will formally consider adding Pariette cactus to the list of wildflowers protected by the Endangered Species Act. 

In 2005, Center for Native Ecosystems and the Utah Native Plant Society asked the Service to protect Pariette cactus after the Bureau of Land Management proposed greatly expanding oil drilling operations in its only known habitat.

"In the face of intense oil and gas drilling, Pariette cactus is just hanging on," noted Tony Frates of the Utah Native Plant Society.  "It is critically important that we protect it under the Endangered Species Act."

“Ever since Pariette cactus was first described, scientists have said drilling could lead to its extinction,” said Erin Robertson, Staff Biologist for Center for Native Ecosystems.  “Endangered Species Act protection is the best way to keep this beautiful wildflower from disappearing because of irresponsible drilling.”

Pariette cactus is only found in a single drainage in the Uinta Basin.  The Service estimates that fewer than 4,000 plants exist in this 10-mile by 3-mile area.

The Service’s finding, published in the Federal Register today, highlighted the threat of drilling:

“Expansion of the Castle Peak/Eightmile Flat oil and gas field overlaps much of the remaining suitable habitat for [Pariette cactus] by doubling the number of wells and the amount of surface disturbance in cactus habitat…all known [Pariette cactus] individuals are within 300 m (984 ft) of a well…We have documented the direct loss of [Pariette cactus] individuals to oil field development activities including mechanical disturbance of occupied habitat with the loss of individual plants and sedimentation from roads and well pads burying other individuals.  These losses have occurred despite conservation efforts implemented by BLM and the oil field operator (Newfield, Inc.).” (71 Fed. Reg. 75218 (Dec. 14, 2006)

Center for Native Ecosystems and the Utah Native Plant Society filed a formal "listing petition" seeking protection for this spectacular native wildflower in April 2005.  When the Service did not respond to the petition, the coalition was forced to seek help from the courts.  In October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in a court settlement to make a preliminary finding on the petition this week.  The Service now has until September 2007 to investigate threats to Pariette cactus.

To download the listing petition or a high-resolution photograph of Pariette cactus, visit http://www.nativeecosystems.org/species/pariette-cactus/.  For more information about Utah Native Plant Society, visit http://www.unps.org/index.html.

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