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Santa Fe, NM – Public comment is due today on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to designate critical habitat for the rare Pecos sunflower, which is listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In detailed comments, WildEarth Guardians criticized the proposal for failing to provide adequate protection for the sunflower. Out of nearly 6,000 acres the Service has identified as containing significant sunflower populations, the agency will likely slash the final acreage protected by more than 87 percent.

In the critical habitat proposal, the Service identifies 5,746 acres on twelve sites that contain stable and relatively large populations. However, the preferred alternative identified in an environmental assessment would only protect 722 acres, just 12.5 percent of the original proposal. The sunflower’s plight is part of a pattern of the Bush administration slashing habitat protection between critical habitat proposals and final designations.

“This beautiful symbol of desert wetlands in southeastern New Mexico and west Texas is barely holding on,” said Dr. Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians. “This rare sunflower is suffering from an onslaught of threats, including the climate crisis. We are urging the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect all suitable habitat in order to give this rare sunflower a decent chance at recovery,” continued Rosmarino.

While the Service estimates that critical habitat designation will cost $3.9-4.4 million over the next twenty years (undiscounted), 74 percent of this amount will be for non-native plant control, which may occur without critical habitat designation. Another 17 percent will be for the cost of ESA consultation by the Service, which would also occur without the designation. WildEarth Guardians described in its comments how the cost estimates omit discussion of benefits from sunflower recovery actions, including ecosystem protection.

“Protections for the sunflower will benefit the invaluable desert cienegas of which they are a part. The Endangered Species Act can help protect whole ecosystems, but the Service must stop sabotaging this wise law,” stated Rosmarino.

The Pecos sunflower exists in desert wetlands in limited areas of western Texas and west-central and eastern New Mexico. The sunflower’s wetlands habitat is imperiled by prolonged drought caused by climate change. The plant is also threatened by loss and degradation of its wetland habitat, caused by groundwater pumping for agriculture and municipal use, filling of wetlands for development, invasion of non-native species, and destruction by livestock. Oil and gas drilling is another possible threat.

After 24 years of delay, the Service protected the Pecos sunflower by listing it as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in October 1999. Although the Act requires the Service to protect the critical habitat of the species at the same time it is listed, the agency has not done so. WildEarth Guardians took the Service to court in 2005 to force critical habitat for the sunflower. That lawsuit was settled in 2006, with the requirement that the Service finalize its critical habitat determination by March 2008.

An important benefit of critical habitat is that it can provide protection for a species in areas that it does not currently occupy, but to which it can be restored. The Service’s current proposal fails to recognize this important feature by excluding any unoccupied, but suitable habitat. Research has shown that species with critical habitat designations are more than twice as likely to recover as those lacking this protection. WildEarth Guardians is urging the Service to include all occupied and unoccupied (but suitable) sunflower habitat in the final designation.

One of the most important sunflower populations is on the Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, but the Service has stated that it will likely not include the refuge in the final critical habitat designation. Since 2003, WildEarth Guardians has challenged a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to allow up to 91 oil and gas wells adjacent to the Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge without sufficient protections for endangered species. A major habitat area for the sunflower exists on this refuge and may be harmed if oil and gas drilling on BLM lands adjacent to the refuge proceeds. The refuge itself is vulnerable to drilling, as the Service does not control any subsurface rights.

The Pecos sunflower, which can reach six feet in height, looks similar to the common sunflower, except it has narrower leaves, fewer hairs on the stems and leaves, and slightly smaller flower heads. It is restricted to wetland habitat. Nearly all occupied sites are less than five acres in size. The Pecos sunflower shares habitat with several other endangered species, which would benefit from habitat protection for the sunflower.

Background information, including comments submitted by WildEarth Guardians on the critical habitat proposal, is available from Nicole Rosmarino or (505) 988-9126 x1156