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WYNDD helps conserve plant species

CJ Day

Staff Writer

The US Fish and Wildlife removed a rare plant native to Wyoming from their endangered species list, thanks in part to the efforts of the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database (WYNDD) at the University of Wyoming.

The WYNDD has studied the Colorado butterfly plant for 31 years, even before it first received federal protection as an endangered species in 2000. The plant, which can only be found in a small area covering southeastern Wyoming, northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska, gets its name from the location where botanists first discovered it – Colorado, in 1895 – and from the shape of its leaves, which reminded early naturalists of butterfly wings. However, the plant’s name is a bit of a misnomer.

“It’s mainly found in Wyoming, not Colorado, and it’s pollinated by moths, not butterflies,” said WYNDD’s Lead Botanist Bonnie Heidel. “So if it had been found and named today, the Wyoming moth plant would have been a better descriptor.”

Heidel led the effort to further investigate the butterfly plant. While their research did result in a policy change for this case, WYNDD does not make any effort to use the data they collect to advocate for any sort of change. Rather, they collect the data, and the Fish and Wildlife Service makes the decision based on the information that WYNDD and other organizations like it provide.

Over the 31 years that WYNDD studied the Colorado butterfly plant, they found that while the numbers of the plant fluctuated from year to year, the plant’s population tended positive and recent discoveries of previously unknown populations in Colorado helped give Fish and Wildlife the evidence they needed to delist it.

“We don’t tell Fish and Wildlife what to do, we just give them the information we’ve got,” said Heidel, “but when something like this happens for a plant like this, we have to call it a success story.”

The Colorado butterfly plant has some unique properties that make it stand out from other plants. It is very specialized for a certain habitat; it is only found on the edges of small creeks and other drainages. This ecological niche allows it to thrive in places where other plants struggle, but its high level of specialization means that it’s far more susceptible to changes to its habitat.

“It can no longer be found in the place it was originally discovered, Fort Collins, because development has destroyed the drainages it used to call home,” said Heidel.

Like many other plants of its type, it is a perennial, meaning that it lives for periods longer than two years. It only blooms once in its life and dies soon after. It has an uncommon adaptation known as a seed bank, where the plant produces seeds underground that can wait for up to five years before germination.

“It has these seeds, and these seeds wait for years until the time is right for them to sprout,” said Heidel. “So you could say that they don’t keep all their seeds in one basket.”

WYNDD studied a population of the plant located on F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, which is the only known population on federal land. Contrary to popular belief, the Endangered Species Act only protects species while they are on federal land or are at risk due to a federal project on private land, so the F.E Warren population was the only population to have legal protection for the 19 years that the plant was considered endangered. The base’s administration worked with WYNDD to protect the plant during their study, and has pledged to continue those protections moving forward.

“Just because it’s delisted doesn’t mean we stop caring about it,” said Heidel. “We’re going to keep monitoring and following up far into the future.”

Part of those efforts include a project by the UW Botany department to determine the plant’s long term viability. While the plant may have lost its federal protections, it is still listed on Wyoming’s species of concern list, and the threat of habitat destruction continues to grow. Even beyond its legal status, Heidel said she feels that it is worth studying on its own merits.

“It’s a unique element of our state’s biodiversity,” she said. “Every time we go out into the field to study it, we learn something new.”

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