Environmentalists are seeking Endangered Species Act protection for a Washington state flower they fear could get trampled toward extinction by cattle and firearms enthusiasts.
Citing dangers that range from ranching and off-highway vehicle use to occasional “weapon shooting events,” the Center for Biological Diversity on Tuesday petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Wanapum oxytrope flower as threatened or endangered.
According to the petition, the plants grow exclusively in a “harsh, windswept” area along the Saddle Mountains in central Washington and are a unique variety of the more common field oxytrope.
“These little pink flowers have likely graced the Saddle Mountains since mammoths roamed Washington state, but without federal protections they could disappear on our watch,” Gwendolyn McManus, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
