The Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday denied Endangered Species Act protections for the Las Vegas bearpoppy, a desert plant that conservationists fear remains at risk from ranching, mining and suburban sprawl.
But the Bethany Beach firefly, which inhabits parts of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, requires protection as a threatened species, according to the federal agency.
In its pair of otherwise unrelated decisions, the FWS made some progress in clearing its large backlog of petitions and proposals. The decision on the Las Vegas bearpoppy comes more than five years after the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service in August 2019 to list the species as threatened or endangered.
The desert plant currently exists in 12 population groups in southern Nevada and northwest Arizona, primarily on public lands in the Mojave Desert. The Fish and Wildlife Service characterizes it as a hardy species able to endure harsh desert conditions with its deep taproot and long-lived seed banks.
