NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – New Mexico’s Center for Species Survival is showing how the endangered Aztec Gilia, native to New Mexico, is slowly making a comeback. According to the state’s Energy, Mineral, and Resource Department, the primary threat to the species is habitat destruction from oil and gas drilling in the San Juan Basin.
When unavoidable construction threatens rare plants, and relocation into wild space is not an option, state land managers call on horticultural staff to save the species. The New Mexico BioPark Society says last year, they collected Aztec Gilia which was set to be destroyed due to road construction and on Tuesday the plants bloomed. They say this could be the first time the plant blossomed outside of the wild. They hope human intervention can save the native plant.
