By Andy Neill
April 2021
Once thought extinct, the recovery and recent delisting of the endangered Bradshaw’s lomatium (Lomatium bradshawii) is a success story that IAE can celebrate with many of our partners. Who would have thought that when this species was re-discovered in the Willamette Valley in the late 1980’s, it would trigger an over 30-year recovery effort that lead to its eventual delisting? Over the last 20 years, IAE has had the opportunity to participate in many aspects of this recovery journey. We have had the honor of working with so many amazing partners, including U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Greenbelt Land Trust, McKenzie River Trust, The Nature Conservancy, USDA Corvallis Plant Materials Center, Heritage Seedlings, Inc., Benton County Natural Areas and Parks Department, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, private landowners, volunteers and many others, to research habitat requirements, complete multiple range-wide surveys, collect seed, develop propagation techniques, write habitat conservation plans, restore wet prairie habitats to expand, enhance and establish new populations and plant tens of thousands of plants, all with the overarching goal of bringing back Bradshaw’s lomatium to the Willamette Valley. Yes, that was a long sentence, but how else could the herculean effort to delist an endangered species be described? Many current and past IAE employees were involved in the recovery process and each one deserves recognition for their part.
We at IAE tip our hats to our partners whose ongoing work to conserve, restore, and maintain wet prairie continues to be successful. Now that Bradshaw’s lomatium has been delisted, we will all need to do our part to protect and maintain this species’ habitat, and we can also build upon this momentum to work towards the recovery of our other threatened and endangered Willamette Valley species. Congratulations to everyone who had a hand in the recovery of Bradshaw’s lomatium!
