RENO, Nev. (AP) — Few people had ever heard of Tiehm's buckwheat when conservationists filed a petition two years ago to declare the desert wildflower an endangered species.
But federal documents reviewed by The Associated Press show the rare plant at the center of a fight over a proposed lithium mine in Nevada has been on the government's radar for decades.
Conservationists who discovered the records are urging the Bureau of Land Management to create a protective buffer around the flower 200 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
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The request for administrative action comes while the Fish and Wildlife Service considers formal listing of the plant under the Endangered Species Act.
