Rare plant may stall U.S. 95 work

MOSCOW, Idaho – A federally protected and rare plant that was temporarily buried earlier this year during construction on a northern Idaho highway could result in road-building delays after two environmental groups threatened a lawsuit over the incident.

A single Spalding’s catchfly plant was buried this spring during work on U.S. Highway 95 between Moscow and Lewiston. It has been listed since 2001 under the Endangered Species Act as threatened after its numbers dwindled due to livestock grazing, noxious weed infestation and conversion of prairie into farmland and houses.

There are only about 16,500 of the plants left in the region, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the 1973 species protection law.

It was quickly uncovered by workers, but the Friends of the Clearwater and Palouse Sierra Club groups said steps must be taken by the Idaho Transportation Department to prevent similar problems in the future.

The groups want a survey of all threatened, endangered and sensitive plant species in the area, and are also demanding the route be properly marked to help workers avoid such species.

In addition, they’re calling for completion of a formal investigation, sanctions in the event of wrongdoing, and procedures put in place to prevent this from happening again.

“While it would appear this was unintentional, the fact that the contractor was apparently unaware of the population of a listed species is an extremely serious matter,” according to a letter from local chapters of the environmental groups. “This letter also serves as a 60-day notice of intent to sue under the ESA (Endangered Species Act).”

According to Fish and Wild- life, the Spalding’s catchfly is a long-lived perennial herb in the carnation family, with four to seven pairs of lance-shaped leaves, small greenish-white flowers, sticky foliage and lobe-shaped petals.

“The catchfly’s grassland habitat once was widespread in the region but has been reduced by more than 95 percent over the past century, primarily because of conversion to agricultural and urban uses,” the agency says on its Web site.

Transportation officials have said they notified federal authorities following the incident. In addition, the state department said measures have been put into place to address what led to the burying.

An ITD spokeswoman said the site around the plant, located in the highway right-of-way, remains off limits.