Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 9 March 2020
Who's greener? Mine fight pits electric cars against flower

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The rare sistant Jamey McClinton
Tiehm's buckwheat stands hoped as many as 600
less than a foot tall (30 cen- would germinate, but were
timeters) in Nevada's rocky pleasantly surprised when
high desert, its thin, leafless 900 had sprouted by mid-
stems adorned with tiny February.
yellow flowers in spring. "We didn't even know if
To the Australian company it would grow in a green-
that wants to mine lithium house," said McClinton,
beneath the federal land who did her master's work
where it grows, the pe- on the related but distinct
rennial herb is a potential Crosby buckwheat and
roadblock to a metal badly isn't aware of anyone else
needed for electric vehi- trying to grow Tiehm's.
cles and the global push to The slow-growing flowers
reduce greenhouse gases. have fragile roots that dry
To environmentalists deter- out easily and make up
mined to halt the open pit 70% of the plant.
mine, it's a precious species "We know they are very tol-
that exists nowhere else in erant of horrible soil. That's
the world. unusual," Leger said. "What
And to plant ecologists, it's we don't know is how it will
a scientific challenge to try grow in other kinds of soil."
to grow the wildflower from Leger, who also serves as
seeds in a greenhouse. director of UNR's Museum of
Whose mission is a nobler Natural History, said those
shade of green depends This June 1, 2019, file photo provided by the Center for Biological Diversity, shows the rare desert who dismiss the flowers as
on who you ask. wildflower Tiehm's buckwheat in the Silver Peak Range about 120 miles southeast of Reno, Nev. weeds unworthy of all the
The competing interests Associated Press fuss don't understand the
appeared to find some value of biodiversity.
common ground earlier and 300 to 400 operational for many years to come." "We have always been "Weed is a human con-
this year at the remote site jobs. The company acknowl- aware of the buckwheat. It struct. A weed is a plant
about 200 miles (320 kilo- And environmentalists insist edges Tiehm's buckwheat didn't come as a surprise," that grows anywhere a hu-
meters) southeast of Reno. the legal battle is just be- hasn't been documented Ioneer President Bernard man doesn't want it," she
Ioneer Ltd. has spent mil- ginning. anywhere else on earth, Rowe told The Associated said, adding biodiversity is
lions exploring the site, "The storm is brewing on the but denies the mine would Press in a phone interview "magic" and a safeguard
which it says is one of the horizon," said Patrick Don- lead to its extinction. from Australia. against future loss.
world's biggest undevel- nelly, Nevada director of Company officials say All site activity has been The research funded by
oped lithium-boron depos- the Center for Biological they've been researching undertaken with the "pro- Ioneer is examining the
its. Diversity. the plant since 2016, going tection of the buckwheat possibility of transplanting
But the Center for Biologi- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife to great lengths to ensure first and foremost in mind," plants as well as growing
cal Diversity withdrew its Service is considering the its protection and exam- Rowe said. He added the new ones from seedlings to
lawsuit against the U.S. Bu- center's petition, filed in ining how it's fared during company's mitigation strat- be planted at or near the
reau of Land Management October, to add the flower previous mining operations egy "will ensure protection mining site.
in January after Ioneer to the federal list of endan- at Rhyolite Ridge, near the and, in fact, the expansion As far as transplanting,
ended its exploration activ- gered species. And the small town of Tonopah, of the buckwheat popula- Leger said, "I don't think it's
ities and agreed to provide Nevada Division of Forestry over the past 80 years. tion." an awesome idea."
the group notice before announced this week it They recently spent $60,000 "We're seeing evidence of "To establish a real popu-
resuming any work at Rhyo- would soon start gathering for a yearlong study at the that at the greenhouse at lation," McClinton added,
lite Ridge in rural Esmeralda public comments to help University of Nevada, Reno. UNR," Rowe said. "We've "you have to grow them
County. determine whether to take Scientists there are grow- got a reasonably high de- from seedlings on their
Still, Ioneer remains com- its own action to protect ing hundreds of seedlings gree of confidence we own."
mitted to the mine it says the plant. in a greenhouse to deter- can successfully propa- But Donnelly said the new
is expected to produce "If you look at a map of the mine whether it's feasible gate these plants and pro- research appears to be
22,000 tons (19,958 metric lithium deposits and a map to transplant them into the tect them." aimed at finding an alter-
tonnes) of lithium carbon- of the buckwheat, there's wild to bolster the limited University researchers are native site "to keep the spe-
ate needed for electric car really no way to build the population, an estimated doing their best to replicate cies alive so Ioneer could
batteries like the ones Tesla mine without wiping out the 43,000 plants covering a the harsh desert conditions destroy its habitat."
makes east of Reno, create buckwheat," Donnelly said. total of 21 acres (8.5 hect- with poor soil quality at the He acknowledged a differ-
400 to 500 construction jobs "We fully anticipate a fight ares). greenhouse where they ence between transplant-
planted 3,276 Tiehm seeds ing plants and growing
in January. them from seeds, but said
"We torture them. We want it's "beside the point, really."
them to know life is hard, "A species is more than a
starting now," said Beth set of genetic material. A
Leger, a UNR plant ecolo- species is inextricable from
gist who has done exten- its habitat," Donnelly said.
sive research on invasive "To allow a species' habitat
cheat grass and native to be wiped out and put
plants of the Great Basin it someplace else, is func-
region. tionally allowing it to go
She and her graduate as- extinct."q