Milkvetch is put on protection list

The Goose Creek milkvetch, which is found only in a 10-square-mile area of three states and whose population was decimated by a late summer wildfire two years ago, warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act, federal officials announced Thursday.

But the low-growing perennial plant found only in Utah, Idaho and Nevada will have to wait because of "higher listing" priorities ahead of it that preclude it from landing on the list.

The plant grows in the Goose Creek drainage of Cassia County, Idaho; Elko County, Nev.; and Box Elder County. A wildfire in 2007 burned 25 percent of the plant's habitat and more than 50 percent of the known species.

While the species receives no statutory protection under the Endangered Species Act, inclusion on the candidate list promotes conservation efforts, according to a news release by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

— Amy Joi O'Donoghue