Lawsuit says government failing to protect Nevada species

WASHINGTON — An environmental group filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking protection for 19 species in several states under the Endangered Species Act, including the Las Vegas bearpoppy and the Mojave poppy bee in Nevada.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia by the Center for Biological Diversity and named the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the defendant.

According to the lawsuit, the federal agency found in 2019 that protecting the poppy bee might be warranted and reached a similar conclusion in 2020 about the bearpoppy. Fish and Wildlife, under the Endangered Species Act, failed to meet statutory requirements to make a decision whether to list them as endangered and provide protection, the lawsuit contends.

“In these 19 cases, they have blown that deadline,” said Patrick Donnelly, Center for Biological Diversity state director in Nevada.

A spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington declined Friday to comment on the lawsuit.

The species named in the lawsuit are found in several states, from California to Florida. Only the Las Vegas bearpoppy and Mojave poppy bee are located in Nevada.

“The Las Vegas bearpoppy and its pollinator the Mojave poppy bee are important parts of the Mojave Desert ecosystem in southern Nevada, and they’re facing a dire risk of extinction,” said Tara Cornelisse, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Cornelisse is the primary author of the petitions to protect the two species. “These special organisms need the lifesaving protections of the Endangered Species Act to have a hope of survival, and that’s why we filed this lawsuit,” she said.

Donnelly said the Las Vegas bearpoppy once was prevalent throughout the valley but now is found in areas near Lake Mead, Nellis AFB, Rainbow Gardens and Frenchman Mountain. He said urban sprawl has decimated the species, once abundant on gypsum-rich soils of the northern Mojave Desert.

“Clark County and the Bureau of Land Management have failed to prevent these species from sliding toward extinction, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to follow the law to protect them,” Donnelly said.

“Only the Endangered Species Act can save these Nevada treasures from extinction,” he said.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.