MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) -- Federal authorities expect that land already set aside for threatened fairy shrimp in southern Oregon will also serve to protect two species of endangered plants.

In a settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to designate critical habitat for the large-flowered woolly meadowfoam and Cook's lomatium.

But the designation required under the Endangered Species Act will have to wait until 2010 due to budget constraints.

The plants and the fairy shrimp are both associated with vernal pools -- shallow depressions that collect rainwater.

In the Agate Desert outside Medford, they escaped development for agricultural land because they do not drain.