PORTLAND, Ore.— The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for failing to decide whether to protect the gray cat’s eye plant under the Endangered Species Act. These rare plants are found exclusively on dunes along the Columbia River in central Washington.

Gray cat’s eyes are threatened by habitat loss to dams, agriculture and off-road vehicles. Other threats include invasive species (particularly cheat grass), altered fire regimes, loss of pollinators, altered sand supplies and climate change. The Center submitted a petition in May 2024 seeking Endangered Species Act protections for the plants.

“The pretty gray cat’s eye will soon go extinct without our help,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s terribly unfortunate that the Trump administration has taken a wrecking ball to the Fish and Wildlife Service and hasn’t taken action to protect these plants and the Columbia River ecosystem they need to survive.”

The flowers were once known to exist in 45 places, but they’re now gone from at least 25 of these sites and most of the remaining are in steep decline. Surveys in 2023 found just three sites harboring viable populations, including the Hanford Dunes, Wanapum Dunes and Beverly Dunes.

“Gray cat’s eye is a spectacular and signature perennial plant species of the increasingly endangered central Washington sand dune communities. It has been recognized as a sensitive plant species for nearly 50 years,” said Mark Darrach, an independent scientist and expert on the species. “Over the last several decades the plant’s habitat and required pollinator populations have collapsed along with much of its associated unique sand dune plant community. Time grows very short to recover this truly beautiful and important species”

The Service had one year to determine if the gray cat’s eye warrants protection as an endangered or threatened species and missed that deadline in May 2025. The agency has often had to be sued to make such determinations, even before the latest Trump administration took steps to gut the already short-staffed agency.

If the flower is protected under the Act, it would force federal agencies like the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land Management to ensure their actions don’t jeopardize the species’ survival. It would also require development of a recovery plan and bring additional funding for research and conservation.