Plants and ESA discussed at Grant PUD meeting

EPHRATA — The potential for a plant species to be listed as an endangered species was a subject of discussion at a recent commission meeting of the Grant County PUD.

The plant is the northern wormwood, said Tom Dresser, manager of the PUD’s fish and wildlife department. The plant has been on the verge of being listed as an endangered species for more than a decade, he said, and was discussed during the relicensing process, as far back as 1999.

Utility district land is home to “one of only two populations known within the United States, maybe even globally. One falls within the project area,” Dresser said.

Utility district officials worked on a plan to improve the plant’s potential for survival, but the results have not been encouraging, he said. “Things don’t look good with this population,” he said, and “the population is in serious decline. It wouldn’t surprise me that it would go extinct within the next 10 years.” Dresser said he thought the cause was outside the control of the PUD, but that the utility will keep trying, and is in the process of writing a new 10-year plan.

“What’s the significance of it?” asked commissioner Larry Schaapman.

“It’s a native plant, limited population,” Dresser said. “Nobody is aware of any ecological, or medicinal or cultural importance.”

“But in the ESA, (Endangered Species Act) that’s not the test, right?” said chief executive officer Kevin Nordt. “It’s just really the fact it exists.”

And because it exists and because it’s within project lands, it’s up to the PUD and the other land management agencies to try to save it, Dresser said. The plan currently under consideration would require monitoring and weeding, some new plantings outside the project boundary and establishing some new sites for seed plants.

If it’s listed under the ESA the PUD could have to add some “flow restraints” at Wanapum Dam, Dresser said, among other possibilities. The plant has been considered for an ESA listing at least once, he said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.