Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the Goose Creek milkvetch plant warrants Endangered Species Act protection but won't get it right now because other species have higher listing priority.
The milkvetch is found only in a 10-square-mile area of Cassia County, Idaho; Elko County, Nev.; and Box Elder County, Utah, in the Goose Creek drainage.
The service was petitioned by more than 25 parties in 2004 to list the plant. The service and several other agencies then initiated surveys to understand its distribution and abundance.
A summer wildfire in 2007 burned 25 percent of the plant's occupied habitat in Nevada and Utah.
After a review the service said Thursday that it found the plant should be listed under the act but that it's precluded by other listing priorities.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
