Nw Plant On ‘Threatened’ List

The golden paintbrush, a grassland plant with bright yellow flowers, has been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a federal agency announced Wednesday.

The plant, historically found at more than 30 locations from the Willamette Valley in western Oregon to Vancouver Island, is now extinct in Oregon and down to 10 populations in Washington state and British Columbia, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

It was previously designated as endangered by the Washington Natural Heritage Program and as “critically imperiled” in British Columbia, meaning landowners are lerted but not barred from damaging the plants.

The new listing means that on public land, the flowers may not be picked, damaged, destroyed, removed or sold, but involves no restriction on privately owned land.

The golden paintbrush grows to about 12 inches high at elevations below 300 feet. It appears in clumps with as many as 15 stems to a plant, said Susan Saul, an agency spokeswoman in Portland.

The largest population, about 10,000 stems, is found on the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station north of Seattle. Four of the other populations also are found on the northern half of the island, including Fort Casey State Park, the Bocker environmental preserve owned by Seattle Pacific University and two private holdings.

The other populations are on the Rocky Prairie natural area preserve of the state Department of Natural Resources south of Olympia, Lopez and San Juan islands in the San Juans and on Alpha Islet and the Trial Islands off the south coast of Vancouver Island.