In Search of the Elusive Lousewort

Many perfectly legitimate problems have delayed construction of the mighty Dickey-Lincoln dam, a $690.3 million hydroelectric project on the St. John River in northern Maine. Among them: lack of money, environmental protests that it would flood a wilderness area and doubts about the benefit it would bring. But one threat to the project was a problem that seemed downright silly: the discovery of a few clumps of a greenish-yellow wild flower called the Furbish lousewort growing near the dam site. Because the plant, named for Botanist Kate Furbish, was not known to exist anywhere else, the dam location could conceivably have been ruled out under the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

The Army Corps of Engineers thought that was enough of a possibility to invest $17,000 and two summers scouting a 300-mile stretch of the St. John River to see if the fearsome Furbish could be found elsewhere. Now the engineers have proudly announced the discovery of no fewer than five clumps of louseworts safely beyond the proposed dam site. What is more, they claim, the exotic flower can be cultivated elsewhere. Although the Dickey-Lincoln project, first authorized by Congress in 1965, still has other hurdles to clear before construction begins, the lousewort no longer appears to be an obstacle in its path.

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