Forum Index > Public Lands Stewardship > Vandals Wipe Out Nearly Half of Rare Plant Population in Nevada
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Sculpin
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Sculpin
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PostFri Jun 11, 2021 7:03 am 
I was reading the Valley Morning Star here in Harlingen, TX, while visiting my mom, when I came across a sanitized version of the story of Tiehm's buckwheat and a proposed lithium mine. The buckwheat is endemic to 21 acres in Nevada with a particular soil chemistry, which unfortunately includes lithium. The story claims that hungry rodents decided to completely devour 17,000 plants over the span of a few months - nearly half the entire extant population - despite nothing like that ever happening before. Jan Emmer tells us what really happened to this rare buckwheat in Nevada: https://janemming.com/2020/09/22/17000-rare-tiehms-buckwheat-eriogonum-tiehmii-plants-were-not-killed-by-industrious-small-animals/ shakehead.gif Mining new lithium is cheaper than recycling old batteries. "Battery recycling doesn’t just need to be cleaner—it also needs to be reliably profitable, says Jeff Spangenberger, director of the ReCell Center, a battery-recycling research collaboration supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. “Recycling batteries is better than if we mine new materials and throw the batteries away,” Spangenberger says. “But recycling companies have trouble making profits. We need to make it cost effective, so that people have an incentive to bring their batteries back.”

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir

Brushbuffalo  IanB, Slugman
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crock
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PostFri Jun 11, 2021 3:00 pm 
Thanks for posting. It sounds like space aliens would be a more likely culprit for the disappearing plants than suddenly ravenous rodents.

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IanB
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IanB
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PostTue Jun 15, 2021 9:39 am 
An extended botanical survey of the buckwheat and other plants in the lithium-rich landscape. Seems to have preceded the vandalism. At about 30 minutes in shows an example of natural rodent damage consisting of undermining the foliage to get at the root - not at all like digging the whole plant out and removing.

"Forget gaining a little knowledge about a lot and strive to learn a lot about a little." - Harvey Manning
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Sculpin
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PostThu Jun 17, 2021 5:21 am 
Thanks, IanB, that was awesome! I never heard of David Rabinowitz before but now I am a fan..."look at those involucres, you prick!"* *I think that was what he was saying. dizzy.gif

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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Forum Index > Public Lands Stewardship > Vandals Wipe Out Nearly Half of Rare Plant Population in Nevada
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