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US Mulls Endangered Status For Nevada Plant In Mine Fight

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says there's enough scientific evidence that two rare plants in Nevada's desert could go extinct to warrant a year-long review of whether to list them as endangered species.

It includes one at the center of a fight over a proposed lithium mine 200 miles southeast of Reno.

Tiehm's buckwheat is found on just 10 acres of west-central Nevada and believed to exist nowhere else in the world.

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The Fish and Wildlife Service also agreed the Las Vegas bearpoppy is threatened by habitat loss in southern Nevada due to urban sprawl and mining, as well as killer bees.