How A Wild Daisy Could Ward Off Mining At A SoCal Mountain Range

A rare daisy is now protected as a threatened species in California.

The California Fish and Game Commission voted this week to permanently protect the Inyo rock daisy from the threat of gold mining.

A botanical black hole 

These wildflowers sprout out of the Inyo Mountains’ highest peaks in high heat, flourishing a bright gold in summer.

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The range stands between the Eastern Sierra and Death Valley National Park and it's the daisy's only home.

For decades, conservationists and researchers considered the remote area a “botanical blackhole.” The area was unreachable, making it hard to catalog its plant life.

That prompted botanist Maria Jesus to spend three months studying the area in 2018, and to expand on the little that was known about the Inyo rock daisy.

Jesus says there are only about a couple thousands growing in the Inyo Montains and they play an important role for bugs.

“They have a strong smell and attract all sorts of pollinators,” she said. “They're kind of the only game in town in the summer for important pollinator species.”

Jesus brought her findings to the Center for Biological Diversity. Her research was later used by the California Native Species Society in 2022 to apply for official protections.

Threat from gold mining

Gold mining is a major threat for the wild daisies. Miners use a technique called heap leaching in order to extract rocks from the Inyo Mountains.

The Inyo Mountains

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Courtesy of Bureau of Land Management

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“They basically get the rocks and soil out, grind them up and then put them on a pile and run cyanide through them,” said Ileene Anderson of the Center for Biological Diversity. “That leaches out the microscopic gold.”

This mining process could significantly destroy the area where the daisies grow.

But protections from the California Endangered Species Act will now help keep mining interests at bay by providing guardrails against drillers that target the Conglomerate Mesa, the Inyo mountains bedrock.

“This company will need to consult with the state, specifically the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who will decide whether this drilling will negatively impact the species and lead to its extinction,” Jesus said.

Mining public land

Anderson said she’s come across at least four exploratory drilling companies interested in drilling in the Inyo Mountains area.

“[T]hat area is very popular for mining interests because of the geology,” Anderson said.

Though a national law from 1872 continues to enable mining companies to establish projects in the wild with little oversight, Anderson points to newer laws closer to home that have worked to protect them from mining free-reign.

"When the Desert Protective Act passed in 1994, The conglomerate Mesa was released from wilderness consideration. The [Bureau of Land Management] has to permit their activities up there," Anderson said.

Today, a mining company K2 Gold Corporation works on obtaining those permits for exploration in the area, but new conditions will be factored in. K2 has not responded to our request for comments.

"Every mining company now is going to have to address the Inyo rock daisy," Anderson said.