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Rare plant only found in Pryor Mountain deserts may get Endangered Species protection – Daily Montanan

['Darrell Ehrlick', 'More From Author', '- March']

Date: 2022-03-05 00:00:00

It’s sounds more like a British insult than a rare species – the thick-leaf bladderpod.

But, the small plant that helps hold down the high-elevation, arid soil of the Pryor Mountains in southern Montana and northern Wyoming may be headed for protection under the Endangered Species Act as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is beginning work on a full scale review of the species.

Advocates from the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the service to review the small plant for endangered species status because it says plans of gypsum mining in the area threaten the thick-leaf bladderpod because it is only found in this one area in the world.

In 2015, the Bureau of Land Management designated more than 2,600 acres of the Pryor foothills an “area of critical environmental concern,” largely because of the plant.

While the scientific research on the rare plant is not extensive, Kristine Akland at the Center for Biological Diversity, said that it plays a key role in helping to anchor the crusty soil in the arid foothills and protects them against soil erosion.

“We hope that this decision will prompt the BLM to protect the Pryor Mountain Desert and all of its biological treasures from future mining,” said Peter Lesica, conservation chairman of the Montana Native Plant Society.

The thick-leaf bladderpod is found on “cryptobiotic soil crusts” – living soils made of blue-green algae, lichens, mosses, micro fungi and bacteria. The small plant is only a few inches in size and has tiny yellow flowers that bloom for a few weeks in June.

Akland said the concern is made urgent because of the possibility of gypsum mining in the area. In order to mine for gypsum, or even explore for it, the top layer of soil would have to be removed, killing the fragile crusty soil in which the thick-leaf bladderpod grows.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could take one of three routes after it completes a full-scale study: It could decide to list the thick-leaf bladderpod, giving it federal protection; it could decline to protect the species, or it could determine the species is worthy of listing as endangered, but place it on a list along with other species which need protection, leaving it in a sort of limbo or waiting game.

“We don’t know a lot about it, but it’s this plant that grows in such a stark landscape and helps stave off erosion. That seems like something we should learn more about,” Akland said. “We can’t discount a species just because we don’t know as much about it.”

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