Thanks to recovery efforts in the Willamette Valley, a prairie flower is being removed from the federal endangered species list.
Nelson’s checker-mallow is a tall, bright pink flower that thrived in open, grassy areas. Noah Greenwald with the Center for Biological Diversity told KLCC it was listed as endangered because of habitat loss from urban development and farming.
Now, “in the places there’s remnant prairies, if there’s not some form of disturbance: burning or even mowing in some cases, trees will start to encroach, and then for those species like this checker-mallow that like open areas, that doesn’t work for them,” he said.
Greenwald said native peoples used to burn the valley to keep prairies open. He said the habitat will need to be maintained, or several plants that have been delisted will be endangered again.
Four Oregon plants have been delisted in the past two years. Besides the Nelson’s checker-mallow, the Golden Paintbrush was taken off the Endangered Species list in July, Bradshaw’s lomatium was removed in 2022, and an aquatic plant, the water howellia, was delisted in 2021.
“It’s great they’re removed from the emergency room of extinction risk, but these prairies still occupy a fraction of what they once did,” said Greenwald. He hopes work continues to expand natural areas in the Willamette Valley.
The U.S. Forest Service will monitor the species for the next decade, to be sure the populations are viable and healthy.
Nelson’s checker-mallow remains listed as endangered by Oregon and Washington’s state Endangered Species Acts.
If you’re interested in helping restore Nelson’s checker-mallow, there’s an upcoming volunteer planting event on Nov. 11 near Corvallis. More information is available online via the Institute for Applied Ecology.
