Environmentalists Seek Protection for Giant Palouse Worm

Ask most people to name an endangered species, and you'll probably get answers like "panda" or "polar bear." What you're not likely to hear is something like, "a giant spitting worm that smells like flowers."

But that's exactly one not-so-cuddly species environmentalists are hoping to protect.

Four conservation groups -- the Center for Biological Diversity, Palouse Prairie Foundation, Palouse Audubon and Friends of the Clearwater -- went to court this week seeking to overturn a federal decision not to grant Endangered Species Act protection to Driloleirus americanus, otherwise known as the giant Palouse earthworm.

Native to the Palouse ecosystem of southeast Washington and west-central Idaho, the giant Palouse earthworm can grow up to three feet long and has a natural, lily-like odor. It's also said to spit when threatened, and burrow quickly through the soil.

Don't try and verify this first-hand, though: while the giant worm was described as "very abundant" in 1897, the last confirmed sighting was by a University of Idaho researcher in May 2005. Its last appearance before then? 1988.

While the giant Palouse earthworm might not have Save-the-Whales glamor, it's an important part of its ecosystem, which is itself threatened, according to O. Lynne Nelson, a member of the group, Friends of the Clearwater.

"The native Palouse ecosystem is precious," Nelson said. "It represents beauty, heritage, wildlife habitat, drinking water and a clean, simple quality of life; yet this ecosystem is one of the rarest on earth. Listing the giant Palouse earthworm may be the only salvation for the Palouse prairie."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last October denied a petition seeking Endangered Species status for the giant Palouse earthworm. Many similar requests for other species have also failed during the George W. Bush administration, prompting criticism by conservation groups.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, only 58 species have been granted Endangered Species protection under Bush, compared to 522 during Bill Clinton's presidency and 231 during George H.W. Bush's administration.

"Denial of protection for the earthworm is all too typical of the Bush administration, which has protected the fewest number of species under the Endangered Species Act of any administration since the law was passed," said Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Of species that have won protection, not all could qualify as cute or cuddly. Other creatures that have been listed as endangered include the Maria Island Snake, the Tooth Cave pseudoscorpion, the Kaui cave wolf spider and the Finerayed pigtoe clam.