Tiehm's buckwheat at Rhyolite Ridge. Courtesy Patrick Donnelly, Center for Biological Diversity.
By Lynn Boulton, Chair, the Range of Light Group
The US Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) is currently reviewing the Tiehm’s buckwheat (Eriogonum tiehmii) for a potential federal endangered species listing. April 4 was the close of a public comment period to gather input on what should be considered critical habitat and how much of a buffer zone is needed to protect the plants. Because often saving rare species means saving their habitats. What needs to be considered to keep its small ecosystem intact?
The USFWS did extensive research into how Tiehm’s buckwheat is pollinated, how it reproduces, what other plants grow with it, soil characteristics, and whether it could be relocated -- all described in the Federal Register here. USFWS proposed a 500 meter buffer based on the home range of its pollinators. The rest of the area would become an open-pit mine. The question is, is that protection sufficient for the Tiehm’s buckwheat to survive at the edge of a mine?
Tiehm’s buckwheat is rare because it grows on a very specific soil type and its entire population covers only 10 acres, all of which sit in the footprint of a proposed lithium-boron mine at Rhyolite Ridge. To mine the lithium, there would be a very large open pit with trucks hauling dirt day and night out of the pit. A deep pit would change the hydrology of an area significantly. Not mentioned in the Federal Register were potential dust sources and changes in the topography and hydrology that would come with a mine. The Toiyabe Chapter asked them to consider those impacts in evaluating how broad a buffer zone is needed to protect it. All comments are available here.
Rhyolite Ridge is in the Silver Peak Range on the east side of Fish Lake Valley, Nevada, approximately 14 miles northeast from Dyer, Nevada; 65 miles southwest of Tonopah, Nevada. Take the Cave Springs-Coyote Road out of Fish Lake Valley that goes to the town of Silver Peak.
With snow-capped White Mountains in the distance, Rhyolite Ridge is a wonderful place. There are enticing canyons to explore, strata in a variety of colors -- pinks, whites, reds, yellows and greens -- springs to check out, side-blotched lizards, Great Basin gopher snakes, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, woodrat piles, birds including rock wrens, black throated sparrows, and horned larks, and a variety of wildflowers. One of the early bloomers is widewing spring parsley. More will bloom in late April and May. If you haven’t been there, go before it is turned into an industrial mining area!
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