At Wild Ones, we’re dedicated to connecting people and native plants. Our Native Plant News blog delivers the latest stories on native plant conservation, scientific discoveries, and habitat restoration from across the nation. This monthly, volunteer-written feature is designed to educate, engage, and inspire action, empowering readers to support biodiversity and promote sustainable landscaping with native flora.
America’s Grasslands Are Shrinking
The continental United States has lost almost half of its grassland and an estimated 98% of native tallgrass prairies since European settlement, according to experts. While grasslands are most commonly associated with the Midwest and Great Plains, grasslands were common everywhere from the East Coast to the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains and West Coast, said Dwayne Estes, co-founder and executive director of the Southeastern Grasslands Institute.
Historically, grasslands were preferentially cleared by pioneers to start farms as there were fewer trees to remove. As pioneers moved west, grasslands were eliminated. Today, grasslands are still lost to agriculture, housing, highways and other human development and to invasive plant species infiltrating and competing with native forbs and grasses. Most recently, data centers are also contributing to grassland loss.
Grasslands support wildlife and sustain food systems. Grasslands also store 30% of the world’s soil-based carbon, with 80% of that carbon within the soil. These ecosystems are important for soil conservation, water quality, and wildlife habitat. Many of the species that depend on grasslands are also in decline.
A Golden Opportunity for Protection
The Center for Biological Diversity is petitioning the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to add two flowers to the Endangered Species Act list.
Named for the color of their yellow flowers, rough goldenweed (Pyrrocoma scaberula) and Palouse goldenweed (Pyrrocoma liatriformis) are related species found in certain parts of the Northwest. Rough goldenweed is found in Washington, some parts of Oregon, and south of the Clearwater River in Idaho. Palouse goldenweed is found in Palouse prairie in Washington and Idaho. Only about 0.1% of the plant’s habitat likely remains, most of which is found on small parcels of private land too steep or rocky to farm. The wildflowers are important to pollinators, help move nutrients, and aerate the soil
The petition was filed thanks to local botanists bringing attention to these goldenweed species and while the timeline for USFWS to list a species is almost a decade, the petition serves to increase awareness among landowners and the public. One of the biggest threats to these goldweeds and other native plants are invasive species like cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and Russian thistle (Salsola tragus).
Nonprofit seeks federal protection for two Northwest wildflowers-KNKX.org
Critical Habitat Designated for the Rusty Patched Bumble bee
Approximately 1.5 million acres of critical habitat will be designated as critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act for the endangered rusty patched bumble bee by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The area covers 33 counties in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Listed as endangered in 2017, the rusty patched bumble bee was the first bumble bee species to receive protection. The species, once historically widespread, experienced a rapid decline likely due to pathogens, pesticides, and climate change. Rusty patched bumble bees are important pollinators, including for vegetable crops, and conserving this species is important economically and for food security.
This critical habitat designation doesn’t affect land ownership nor create protected areas but may impact development that involves federal agencies in planning, permitting, and implementation. The public can also help rusty patched bumble bee populations by creating habitat that offers a mix of preferably native flowering trees, shrubs, and forbs so something is always blooming from April through October when the bees are active. Early blooming flowering plants are especially important to support queen bees emerging from hibernation and starting nests. In the fall, leave areas of your yard unraked or pile leaves and branches at the edge of your yard or garden beds to provide habitat to new queens to hibernate. Avoid pesticides and herbicides or use them sparingly.
Saving the rusty patch bumble bee-FWS.gov
California: Rare Species Face Uncertain Future After Wildfire
A human-caused wildfire has burned almost 40% (18,379 acres) of Santa Rosa Island, a small island off the coast of California.
Santa Rosa Island is one of the five islands that are part of Channel Islands National Park. These islands are described as the “Galapagos of North America” due to the native species that exist only within locations. This includes plants such as the bright red island monkeyflower (Diplacus parviflorus) and the munchkin liveforever (Dudleya gnoma). The island fox and the island spotted skunk are also found only on these islands. Fire is uncommon on the Channel Islands and this event poses threats to wildlife and plants endemic to Santa Rosa, including the little munchkin liveforevers, according to Lauren Harris, an ecologist with Channel Islands Restoration.
Many of the islands’ ecosystems have been restored after decades of livestock and invasive species removal but the fire could undo the progress that has been made. There is also concern that park officials and scientists won’t be able to sufficiently monitor impacts and recovery efforts due to recent National Park Service agency-wide job reductions and financial cuts.
Fire in the ‘Galapagos of North America’ Risks Species Found Nowhere Else-InsideClimateNews.org
The Santa Rosa Island fire has charred 18,379 acres inside Channel Islands National Park-MSN.com
Minnesota: Partnerships Strengthen Land Conservation Efforts
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Pheasants Forever (PF) have protected 1,900 acres of native prairie, wetlands, and grassland in Clay County in northwestern Minnesota. The purchase was made using funds from the Outdoor Heritage Fund created under the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment approved by Minnesota voters in 2008.
The acquisition is within the Agassiz Beach Ridges area and includes 530 acres of native prairie and reconnects a 7-mile grassland corridor. Bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii) and blazing star (Liatris spp.) species are common here, and the area supports at least 15 rare, threatened, or endangered bird and butterfly species.
Of the 1,900 acres, 480 acres will be added to TNC’s Blazing Star Prairie Preserve, 320 acres transferred to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Keene Wildlife Management Area, and the remaining 1,200 acres will be under the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge and Flickertail Prairie Waterfowl Production Area. All areas will be open to the public.
Virginia: Restoring the longleaf pine
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation is purchasing 1,900 acres of trees and wetlands in Suffolk near South Quay Sandhills Natural Area Preserve. The land will be part of a planned corridor between South Quay and the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge which will create safe space for wildlife to travel without encountering highways and other human disturbance. The area has one of, if not the highest, concentration of biodiversity which includes the endangered northern long-eared bat and frosted elfin butterfly.
Historically, the Suffolk property was used for industrial silviculture and timber production. The property will now be used to restore longleaf pine trees (Pinus palustris), a species that once dominated Virginia’s southeast landscape. At the end of the 21st century, only 200 trees remained, all within the South Quay preserve. From these trees, seeds have been collected and bred at a nursery in Western Tidewater and seedlings planted to rebuild the population.
Virginia taking over forestland in Suffolk to protect ‘biodiversity hotspot’-WHRO.org
Saving Salt Marshes: The Importance of Protecting Nature’s Carbon Sinks
Salt marshes are grassy wetlands flooded by seawater and account for less than 10% of global ecosystems but store ⅓ of global soil carbon, 40 times more than forests. When salt marshes are degraded or damaged, carbon is released which contributes to global warming. Unfortunately, according to a new study, newly restored salt marshes are not storing carbon at the same rate as mature salt marshes.
Study authors measured carbon storage in salt marsh soil and found that mature salt marsh destruction caused a loss of roughly half a million metric tons of soil organic carbon (SOC) between 2002 and 2019 which is the equivalent of 6,600 passenger car emissions. The United States accounted for approximately 60% (6.2 million tons) of salt marsh losses during this time period due to industrialization, oil and gas wells, nutrient runoff from farms, and hurricanes like Katrina and Rita in 2005, which damaged and flooded the fields. Hurricanes again damaged salt marshes in the region in 2017.
The study found that through expanding and restoring existing salt marsh areas, Asia has added almost a million metric tons of surface SOC since 2002 but that these gains were mostly in newly formed salt marshes with relatively low SOC density. The study’s results show that salt marsh restoration efforts are not keeping up with the amount of degradation and that protection of mature salt marshes with high SOC density must occur. “Salt marshes are the most capable and silent ecological guardians and carbon storage warehouses along coastlines,” study co-author Xinxin Wang said. “They can lock large amounts of carbon dioxide in soils for centuries or even millennia.” They are also important habitats for fish, crabs, and birds and provide protection against coastal erosion and natural disasters.
Salt marsh recovery isn’t enough to offset destroyed older wetlands, study finds-Mongabay.com
Zheng, Y., Jiang, Q., He, Q. et al. Global blue carbon losses from salt marshes exceed restoration gains. Nat Commun 17, 3744 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70158-z