Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: Threatened Status for the Colorado Butterfly Plant (Gaura neomexicana ssp. coloradensis) From Southeastern Wyoming, Northcentral Colorado, and Extreme Western Nebraska

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have determined threatened status under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, for Gaura neomexicana ssp. coloradensis (Colorado butterfly plant). A short-lived, perennial herb, G. n. ssp. coloradensis is endemic to moist soils in mesic or wet meadows of floodplain areas in north central Colorado, extreme western Nebraska, and southeastern Wyoming. This subspecies occurs primarily in habitats created and maintained by streams active within their floodplains, with vegetation that is relatively open and not overly dense or overgrown. The primary threats to G. n. ssp. coloradensis is the indiscriminate spraying of broadleaf herbicides and the disturbance of riparian areas that contain native grasses due to agricultural conversion, water diversions, channelization, and urban development.