Oregon native flora face threat of extinction
One-tenth of state’s 3,500 plants * i
may he disappearing, botanists fear /
Over one-tenth of Oregon’s
3,500 native plants may be in
danger of extinction.
At a conference last spring a
tentative list of 568 rare native
plants was discussed by 100 pro
fessional and amateur botanists.
Those botanists and members of
the Oregon Rare and Endangered
Plant Species Task Force
(OREPSTAF), which sponsored
By E G. WHITE-SWIFT
Of the Emerald
the conference, determined that
323 plant species had either not
been found or had only been
found once in recent years in
Oregon.
As a result, OREPSTAF as
signed 115 areas throughout the
state for botanists to check last
summer and fall. The sites chosen
were determined by historical re
cords of plant locations, available
in herbaria and botanical litera
ture.
The botanist's reports were filed
with Jean Siddall, coordinator of
OREPSTAF. She compiles the in
formation on special cards and
coordinates site selection and re
that the ranges of our native flora
are expanding and contracting.
The best results were along fence
rows, hedge rows and ditches."
OREPSTAF plans to send more
site locations to botanists this
spring for field checking during the
"blooming season." After this
year’s inventory is completed,
Siddall will compile a final list to be
presented at a botanical conven
tion next winter.
The conference will draft a final
list of Oregon's endangered
plants to be presented to land
managers throughout the state
and to the U S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. The Fish and Wildlife
Service is responsible for all en
dangered species, including
plants, under the authority of the
Endangered Species Act of 1973
"Another list," she continues,
"contains 115 species which need
to be checked because we have
no recent reports or there are
none currently in herbaria. We will
send botanists to specific spots
recorded in literature to determine
if these plants still exist. They may
already be extinct.
“We also have a list of plants
which were reasonably abundant
but whose populations are rapidly
‘Lilies and orchids are threatened
because they are a showy species
people see and are likely to collect ’
ports. At last week’s Oregon
Academy of Science symposium
on endangered biota, she re
ported that last summer’s search
was not very productive.
“Although some plants were
found that had not been seen
since 1913, not very many plants
were found,” Siddall said.
“Botanists were able to determine
declining. Calypso bulbosa (fairy
slipper), Fritillaria recurva’ (scar
let bell) and Erythronium hender
sonii' (Henderson farm lily) are
three examples of abundant plant
species that are rapidly disappear
ing. They may be the endangered
plant species of tomorrow," Sid
dall concluded.
Why is one-tenth of Oregon's
botanical endowment in trouble?
Plants don't move fast enough. Al
though plants migrate through re
production as a species, indi
vidual plants normally do not
move during the course of their
life. Thus, they are subject to any
force that attempts to eat, move or
otherwise destroy them
Particularly faced with extinc
tion are the native plants of the low
land river valleys of western
Oregon. According to Stan Cook,
a University professor of biology,
"Native plants are being extir
pated by grazing, agriculture, road
construction, drainage projects,
landfills, herbicides and urbaniza
tion. Even controlling forest fires
affects those species that depend
on burned areas or forest clear
ings.”
“In Eastern Oregon," says Sid
dall, "we now find genetic reser
voirs in old cemeteries where
plows and cows couldn t get at the
native plants. Our native grass
lands have been irreversibly
plowed, overgrazed and irrigated
to the point that it will be very dif
ficult to recoup native plant popu
lations
According to one source, the
Boardman bombing range is one
of the most valuable botanical
areas east of the Cascades be
cause it is largely undisturbed In
addition to its botanical purity, it is
also one of the few stretches of the
Oregon Trail that is still intact. The
natural environment is the same
now as when the pioneers were
crossing the plateau
Even parks and natural areas
set aside by various agencies to
slow the process of human impact
on natural diversity do not always
succeed. Cook offers Alton Baker
Park in Eugene as an example
"It did have a lot of interesting
features and natural diversity,”
says Cook. "Some plants on the
sandy floodplain there don’t occur
much in other areas of the valley.
Incense Cedar, California Poppy
Jean Siddall
Photo by Pwry GastuH
uuv>MW U-JI ' v/l Jf II » UUUI I
dance are now being eliminated.
Developing it on a model of a
high-density central park may be
inevitable but we may prefer it in
the future for its values as a
natural area."
Cook points out that even
though some areas are left intact,
introduced species in the de
veloped areas might outcompete
the plants in the natural areas
Cook also points out that there is
seldom immediate economic
value to our native plants
"In England where the people
have been interested in the native
flora for centuries, they have not
been able to prevent the destruc
tion of bogs and dales,” says
Cook. "Some botamcally impor
tant and sensitive areas have
been destroyed by dams no mat
ter how much they contained in
botanical value."
Although knowledge of rare na
tive plant locations and popula
r
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destruction, it creates two other
problems that have the botanists
worried Collection by amateur
botanists and commercial collec
tors and the unintentional destruc
tion by curiosity seekers
“Lilies and orchids are
threatened because they are a
showy species that people see
and are likely to collect for a vase
on the kitchen table,” says Siddall
In addition, many of Oregon s na
tive plants have been exploited by
commercial interests The pitcher
plant of "Darlingtoma California
was sold by a chain foodstore in its
outlets in Virginia as a cobra lily
The pitcher plant grows in bogs
m Oregon and may be in big trou
ble. It is very difficult to propagate
outside its natural environment
Its habitat is being degraded and
bogs drained for development,
says a local botanist "Recently
one of the finest bogs on the
Oregon coast near Florence was
filled with sand to enlarge a golf
course ”
As if all this was not enough to
concern botanists, there is con
cern over the destriiction of botan
(Continued on Page 11)
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