Rare Herb Doesn’t Warrant Protection

The bank monkeyflower, an annual herb that grows in northern and central Idaho and northeastern Oregon, does not warrant listing as an endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says.

The agency responded on Wednesday to a 1989 petition for the federal listing from Steve Paulson of Friends of the Clearwater in Lenore, Idaho.

Paulson cited the bank monkeyflower’s limited range, potential habitat loss from destruction of a road in the Clearwater National Forest, and the inadequacy of existing regulatory protection.

The Fish and Wildlife Service decided in 1990 that his petition included “substantial information indicating that the requested action might be warranted.”

But since then the agency said it has consulted other available literature and with biologists and researchers familiar with the bank monkeyflower. On that basis, Fish and Wildlife concluded that an endangered species designation “is not warranted at this time because the plant is not in danger of extinction or likely to become so in the foreseeable future.”

The announcement came in a statement from the agency’s regional headquarters in Portland.

The bank monkeyflower grows about six inches high with purple flowers and opposite oval leaves. It is found in fairly mountainous regions from 1,200 feet to 7,120 feet elevation in Idaho and Oregon. The plant is typically found where there is exposed mineral soil, including sites where the soil has been exposed because of big game activity or road cuts.

Only 30 documented populations of bank monkeyflower were known when Paulson’s petition was submitted. Seven of those had been destroyed and eight could not be found.

Today, 152 populations have been identified, including 46,000 to 63,000 plants. All but 12 of the populations are on federal land.