PORTLAND, Ore.— The Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition today with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking protection for Stansell's daisy under the Endangered Species Act.

These rare flowering plants only survive on low-nutrient, rocky soils in grassy forest openings and meadow habitats at two sites in Oregon on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

“These tough daisies are botanical unicorns who flourish in harsh soils, but multiple threats could quickly destroy their restricted habitats so they need the Endangered Species Act’s robust protections to survive,” said Jeff Miller, a senior conservation advocate at the Center. “It would be tragic to sacrifice the few wild places where these unique daisies live to strip mining, off-road vehicles and cattle.”

A Canadian mining company has purchased more than 100 nickel mining claims within the last decade in the Red Flat area, potentially within Stansell’s daisy habitat, and has been pushing to move forward with exploration. There is a temporary withdrawal of new mining claims until 2037, but the withdrawal does not apply to valid existing claims, posing a serious threat to the daisy.

Stansell's daisy (Erigeron stanselliae) is a perennial plant that grows up to 10 inches tall, with beautiful white and yellow radial flowers that emerge in June and July. This daisy is found only in southwestern Oregon and grows only from 2,400 to 3,200 feet of elevation, on nutrient-poor soils known as shingle.

These wildflowers have an extremely limited range and are only known to occur at two small sites on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in Curry County. One population at Signal Buttes has between 2,200 and 10,000 individual plants and the second population at Fly Catcher Spring has fewer than 500 individuals.

Since 2013 conservation groups have advocated for the designation of a formal Veva Stansell Botanical Area within the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. This would be a 4,000-acre protected area to help safeguard the Stansell’s daisy and a suite of other unique plants that grow in serpentine soils. The U.S. Forest Service has refused to designate or protect the botanical area.

“Protection under the Endangered Species Act and designation of a small, protected botanical area in the national forest is the flower’s only hope to avoid proposed strip-mining and damage from grazing cattle and off-road vehicles,” said Miller.

The Forest Service classifies Stansell’s daisy as a “sensitive species,” which offers little substantive protection and does not prevent damaging mining, livestock grazing, off-road vehicle use or fire suppression activities in its habitat. In 2023 the Oregon Department of Agriculture listed Stansell's daisy as a state endangered species, but the state protections only apply to non-federal public land, while the species occurs entirely on federal land.

Fire suppression allows encroaching trees and shrubs to crowd the grassy forest openings and meadows that are habitats for Stansell’s daisy. The interruption of the natural fire cycle can also result in increased fuel loads that can lead to more catastrophic fires.

Climate change is a severe threat to Stansell's daisies because of the predicted increase in temperatures and changes in precipitation, given the narrow thermal, hydrological and habitat niches for this plant.

Because of their small population size, Stansell's daisies are also at increased risk of a catastrophic event, decreased genetic diversity and impaired seed production.

If the flowers are protected under the Endangered Species Act, the Forest Service would be required to ensure its actions won’t jeopardize the species’ survival. It would also prompt the development of a recovery plan and bring additional funding for research and conservation.