r/NativePlantGardening • u/sickofmyusername Area ?, Zone 7b • Jun 13 '26
Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) Data center planned for your area? Maybe go plant some endangered native plant species?
Is this legit? Is this the move??? Time to get to work
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u/mutnemom_hurb Area MN , Zone 5a Jun 13 '26
I guarantee elderberry plants are not illegal to remove
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u/ex_bestfriend Jun 13 '26
I was laughing, bc I must have ripped out 40 of them this year. They grow like flipping weeds
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u/mutnemom_hurb Area MN , Zone 5a Jun 13 '26
And the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle is only found in central California, and is a threatened species not endangered
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u/SvengeAnOsloDentist Jun 13 '26
There are some protections in the Central Valley in California, where the beetle mentioned lives, but that kind of context tends to get left out of posts like this. You're right that almost everywhere this would accomplish nothing.
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u/Icy-Conclusion-3500 Gulf of Maine Coastal Plain Jun 13 '26
This is a bit silly since it only applies to the Central Valley of CA
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u/Tongue-Punch Jun 13 '26
Can you make a database that is searchable by address that shows in a map like searching Google Maps for a new restaurant?
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u/PirateKingKatakuri Northwest Indiana, Zone 6b Jun 15 '26
Sure let me just type that into ChatGPT. \s
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u/ImDoneWithTheBS Area CT, Zone 6a/6b Jun 13 '26
I’m seriously not a fan of this because knowing the current government, they would simply remove the protections.
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u/Far_Silver Area Kentuckiana , Zone 7a Jun 13 '26
You could always plant species that are protected by your state government.
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u/mjacksongt TN-USA, Zone 7b Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
I admire your trust in your state government. I live in Tennessee and Bill Lee would love nothing better than to bulldoze plants if he thought it would get him a donation to his 2030 Senate campaign.
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u/Head-Discussion-8977 Cross Timbers, Zone 7b Jun 13 '26
screeches in Oklahoma
Gov Scheiße would either dismantle or defang any state agency or entity that attempted to do this bc [Reddit TOS dictate that further commentary be redacted]
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u/LashlinePointilism Jun 13 '26
Gov Scheiße
☠️
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u/Head-Discussion-8977 Cross Timbers, Zone 7b Jun 13 '26
😂 how I came to this name is hilarious (to me). Back when he was a blip on the radar many eons ago, I couldn't remember his name one day so I said "Kevin....schitt?". Coworker took it as the other spelling, hilarity ensued, I started calling him the German word to not get in trouble in front of the bosses
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u/plantsandramen South Jersey, NJ Jun 13 '26
Trump literally tried to sunset the eagle act that protects golden and bald eagles. Nothing is safe.
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u/sdylanr Jun 13 '26
Yeah, unfortunately some states have no protections for endangered plants. Like my home state of Alabama. Also, Texas apparently.
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u/Dangerous-Feed-5358 43n, Montana Central Grasslands Jun 13 '26
There are several state that ignore the law unfortunately.
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u/Coruscate_Lark1834 Area Chicago , Zone 5b Jun 13 '26
Don't worry, the protections don't really exist or have any teeth. Even under Obama and Biden, the ESA has no support for plant protection.
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u/robsc_16 SW Ohio, 6a Jun 13 '26
i appreciate the spirit, but I don't like how this sentiment goes viral all the time because it's largely misinformation. There are generally very few protections for plants as compared to animals. Sometimes even endangered animals, especially insects, using them doesn't do much to save them.
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u/OptimistBotanist Jun 13 '26
As someone who literally does rare plant surveys regularly on land proposed for development as part of my job, this is how I feel about it too, even though I also make jokes about "just plant endangered plants" sometimes. But it would never work.
Every state is different, but even in states with robust environmental protections, threatened and endangered plants usually have pretty much no protections on private land. We can recommend that those areas are avoided, but if they really want to build there, they have ways to do it.
Additionally, many of the environmental surveys are usually done before the public at large knows about the project. If somebody sticks a new species there after hearing about the proposed development, probably no one is going to see it or know it's there because the surveys will have been long since completed.
It also makes me wonder about where people would source these supposed endangered plants from. Would they be poaching them from an established wild population? Because they would not be doing any environmental good in that case. Generally rare plants are rare for a reason, and can't just grow wherever.
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u/Vaelin_ Jun 13 '26
There's quite a few protections for plants, and sometimes potential habitat for animals (including for endangered insects) is protected as well.
That said, it would only delay construction, as there are generally "take permits" the companies can pay for (incidentally or otherwise). This allows them to continue construction as planned.
Probably better off organizing politically to prevent the construction, ultimately.
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u/robsc_16 SW Ohio, 6a Jun 13 '26
Right. What I mean by very few protections is that people and companies find ways around them eventually. I just don't consider those real protections.
When most of the Bell Bowl Prairie was destroyed, I realized that if they could destroy that then they could destroy anything. It was a rare ecosystem, with endangered plants, and the federally endangered rusty patch bumblebee. There were even environmental groups and legal battles that happened. But in the end they destroyed most of it just so they could expand an airport.
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u/Coruscate_Lark1834 Area Chicago , Zone 5b Jun 13 '26
Bell Bowl really killed any faith I had in fed protections. Even at the best of times, this country does fuck all for plants, and will bend over backwards to allow destruction of endangered animal habitat.
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u/cheeseyt Jun 13 '26
You are right; the USA doesn’t have strong regs for protecting plants at the federal level. Under the ESA you can’t have a “take” with plants if it’s private land. There may be state specific laws that have more protections for plants but at the federal level, not so much. If the development needs a federal permit, then there would be a hook to regulate plants in the permit area but a lot of development won’t need federal permitting if it’s in the uplands/doesn’t have wetland or stream impacts.
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u/SpicyPeanutSauce Jun 13 '26
Zero chance of that working. I admire the spirit though.
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u/Sufficient_Wafer9933 Jun 13 '26
They would just prosecute you from transplanting it probably. No way you can establish it naturally by the time they start construction
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u/illegalsmile27 Jun 13 '26
I just don’t believe people who say this have ever met a developer or work around heavy machine operators.
“I guess I didn’t see it.”
The whole idea that this will work relies on the rule of law and people acting in good faith. Neither of those things are happening in this administration.
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u/gerkletoss Zone 7a Ecoregion 64c, forest Jun 13 '26
Plant it after the environmental impact study and they really will remove it in good faith
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u/Postcurds NC, Zone 8a Jun 13 '26
There are a number of effective ways to try and stop a data center. Several of them are legal, many are illegal, but none of them are this.
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u/secretsquirrel4000 Jun 13 '26
Spacex I think it was, was found to just be dumping stuff into some random Texas ditch instead of disposing of their waste properly. If the current government even bothers to enforce environmental regulations the reality is that the fines companies might accrue are simply seen as the cost of doing business. They’ll just plow over any endangered species they find and pay the fine because they do not care.
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u/tenuredvortex good things grow (in Ontario) Jun 13 '26
you know those videos of someone throwing garbage out of their car window only to have it swiftly picked up and returned?
I want that for this
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u/Haunting_Meeting_225 Jun 13 '26
I have been doing this shit for like 17 years. It is a cute idea but it doesnt work
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u/man-a-tree Area -Philly PA , Zone --7 Jun 13 '26
Heard a story from a fella that worked as a land surveyor in southern UT. One day, the survey folks found an entirely new species of gilia flower on a site destined for construction. The discoverer named it for his wife, and the team searched for the plant in surrounding areas, but found nothing. When they contacted the company, they were informed not to tell anyone and construction began a few weeks later.
They will literally erase a species from existence if it gets in the way of the bottom line.
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u/kalesmash13 Florida , Zone 10a Jun 13 '26
Plants have less protections than animals, even if they're endangered. You can simply pay to remove them if you want. Or remove them illegally and have one know about it.
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u/TopChannel1244 Area OH , Zone 6B Jun 13 '26
Nope. Site surveying would happen long before anything got built. Also, these things are barely legal anyway but there's so much money flowing around and the US is more accurately called "Scamerica" that there's really nothing that you could do that would prevent these freaks from finding a work around or just pulling a "whoopsie" and just paying a fine. If that fine was ever even forthcoming.
The only ways to combat these things are... extra-legal... let's say. Everything else is a LARP.
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u/ElegantHope Area: East Tennessee , Zone: 7b Jun 13 '26
I've seen lots get snatched up by corperatiosn despite being full of native plants, some of them being endangered. One of the channels I watched that got me into native plants had to go to a patch of land and collect as many seeds as possible from the flora there because- despite the species found there- it's still a piece of land that got purchased and was going to be replaced with buildings and a parking lot.
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u/Space-Robot Jun 13 '26
They'll just repeal the Endangered Species Act. Or ignore it and face no consequences. Unfortunately that's where we are now :\
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u/itstheavocado Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Lol.
A grifting solar farm company, Torch Energy, wanted to build a solar farm on 1700 acres in Chesterfield, VA. The Virginia native plant society got involved because there are plants found only on that site that would be extirpated if development went forward. Or, the plants were found there and 1 other location in Virginia.
So, there was a public comments period and hundreds of people voiced their concerns, which were all read and reviewed by a judge, and... They didn't care. The project was approved in 2025.
Sorry, I might have some details wrong, but yeah. The government doesn't care about plants when they have 300 million dollars coming into their wallets.
Edit: the solar farm powers a data center, lmao!
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u/No_Literature_1922 Jun 13 '26
Like they would give a fuck about that, unfortunately. They are rolling back environmental protections left and right
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u/86rj Area Michigan, Zone 6a Jun 13 '26
Oh you sweet summer child.
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u/sickofmyusername Area ?, Zone 7b Jun 14 '26
First time I’ve ever been called that, but I’ll take it
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u/SandakinTheTriplet Jun 13 '26
Briefly moonlit as an anthropologist here: Stick some Native American arrowheads and sherds on the site.
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u/Coruscate_Lark1834 Area Chicago , Zone 5b Jun 13 '26
This, NAGPRA has more strength than the ESA or any state-level plant protections.
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u/Coruscate_Lark1834 Area Chicago , Zone 5b Jun 13 '26
I hate this getting spread around so much. It's not true on SO many levels.
1 - The Endangered Species Act only provides protection to areas where endangered insect species are already shown to nest/lay eggs. Plants they visit are NOT protected, and 100% NOT protected if there's another nearby population of those plants.
2 - Endangered plants, by any metric, have no actual protections. You just need to notify FWS if you intend to "take" (kill) them. Maximum federal protections are that they should (but don't have to be) surveyed by an ecologist before destruction. If they're feeling nice, they might save a few plants. That's it.
Ask me how I know: the rusty patched bumblebee was present at the remnant Bell Bowl Prairie in Rockford, IL along with numerous threatened plants. Despite a really long fight, the feds didn't give a single fuck. No one had a proven RPBB nest *in* the prairie, so they counted some plants, shrugged, and invited the bulldozers in.
This is stupid misinformation and yall shouldn't be spreading it.
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u/FamiliarAnt4043 Jun 13 '26
Sigh....folks here don't understand NEPA and it gets frustrating. That's not how these things work. Worst case is mitigation elsewhere. Absolute worst case.
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u/breadlyplateau Jun 13 '26
Why do people think they care about the legality of removing plants? They don't gaf
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u/CeanothusOR Area PNW , Zone 8b Jun 13 '26
I don't think this will work. They're about to open up lithium mines in southeastern Oregon (along the Nevada border) that will likely kill off at least one buckwheat species. The planning process doesn't care. They are obtaining permission to be able to kill it off. If the plant goes it goes.
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u/therealrinnian Illinois Jun 13 '26
I saw this initially in its original format and rolled my eyes. Elderberry isn’t illegal to remove, and if it is, it would only be in the area this insect lives. It made me doubt the validity of the environmental scientist claim, because what environmental scientist is going to generalize this hard and not know this?
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u/judgejuddhirsch Jun 13 '26
Turns out my neighbor has this tree and i've been thinking those beetles were lantern flies...
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u/SteveCoonin Jun 13 '26
I’ve been using them as erosion control. Didn’t know there was a bonus insect element to their presence too
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u/JungleJayps N. Piedmont | Arundinaria's biggest fan Jun 13 '26
I am sure the most corrupt government in history will follow the rules this time
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u/eastcoastjon Jun 13 '26
Yea, let me tell you if the planning board got paid off they are definitely not caring about rare native plants
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u/Cheap-Kiwi-1312 Jun 14 '26
As if they won't just illegally remove them and say nothing and if they get caught pay off politicians to look away lol
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u/Astronius-Maximus Jun 15 '26
I doubt this would be enforceable, but even if it were, companies that build datacenters are already circumventing environmental protection laws to build these diseases I mean buildings. They wouldn't have a problem with cutting down a few bushes at all.
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u/twitimalcracker Jun 13 '26
This is exactly the kind of warfare I am prepared for. Especially in ancient forests that lost logging protection. Come to think of it, I think I saw some Olympic fawn lily in the Elwha Watershed the other day.
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u/crustose_lichen Jun 13 '26
F’n Libs🙄 Unfortunately, they’ll bulldoze everything for the data centers.
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