Suit filed over indecision under Trump on rare Eastern WA dune flower

A lawsuit has been filed to protect a rare flowering plant found only along the Columbia River in Washington’s Benton and Grant counties upstream of the Tri-Cities.

The Center for Biological Diversity Thursday sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to decide whether to protect the gray cat’s eye plant under the Endangered Species Act.

It has been recognized as a sensitive plant species for nearly 50 years, said Mark Darrach, an independent botanist and expert on the species.

Delaying a decision to protect the plant could increase its risk of extinction, the center said.

The center submitted a petition in May 2024 seeking Endangered Species Act protections for the plants. The federal government had a one-year deadline to make a determination if the plant warranted listing as an endangered or threatened species.

Just three sites harbor viable populations of the plant, all at sand dunes near the Columbia River, according to a 2023 survey cited in the Center’s 2024 petition.

The largest population of the plants is in the Hanford Dunes complex, which is on the federal land of the Hanford nuclear site on the Benton County side of the Columbia River. It is in an area across the river from the Ringold Boat Launch in Franklin County.

That site and the Wanapum Dunes in Grant County upriver from the Wanapum Dam have the most viable plants, according to the 2023 survey. At the Wanapum Dunes they grow on a combination of Grant County PUD, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and private land.

The plants also grow upriver from the Wanapum Dunes at the Beverly Dunes on land that is mostly private, but also include Grant County PUD right-of-way for high voltage power lines.

The plants are threatened by the loss of habitat due to dams, agriculture and off-road vehicles in the dunes, according to the center. Other threats include invasive cheat grass, wildfires, changing conditions for sand and loss of pollinators.

“The pretty gray cat’s eye will soon go extinct without our help,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s terribly unfortunate that the Trump administration has taken a wrecking ball to the Fish and Wildlife Service and hasn’t taken action to protect these plants and the Columbia River ecosystem they need to survive.”

The plant has clusters of white flowers with contrasting, eye-catching yellow centers. Leaves are a gray-green with fine, silky hairs.

If the flower is protected under the Endangered Species Act, it would force federal agencies like the Bureau of Reclamation to ensure they are not harming the species’ survival.

It also would require development of a recovery plan and bring additional money for research and conservation.

Now Darrach, who has surveyed for the plant since 1997, visits its dunes habitat every year to monitor the species’ condition and viability.

“Over the last several decades the plant’s habitat and required pollinator populations have collapsed along with much of its associated unique sand dune plant community,” Darrach said. “Time grows very short to recover this truly beautiful and important species.”