Nearly 100 bird species depend on sagebrush ecosystems for their habitat needs. Evergreen leaves and abundant seed production provide an excellent winter food source to numerous species of large mammals including mule deer, black-tailed deer, white-tailed deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep and jack rabbits. Soils may be quite rocky or gravelly, but in these cases plants will be smaller.īig sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata wyomingensis) is perhaps the most important shrub on western rangelands.
It occupies loamy soils with high clay content and a depth of 25 to 75 cm (10 to 30 in). Wyoming big sagebrush is the most drought tolerant of the big sagebrush subspecies and is commonly found growing on low valley slopes and foothills receiving between 200 and 300 mm (8 to 12 in) annual precipitation. Wyoming big sagebrush commonly occurs from 800 to 2,200 m (2600 to 7,200 ft) in elevation. At lower precipitation areas it is sometimes intermixed with shadscale and other Atriplex species.
Plants are also found in juniper, rabbitbrush, bitterbrush and mountain mahogany communities. Like basin big sagebrush, Wyoming is typically found in large stands covering many acres. When found in proximity with basin big sagebrush, Wyoming sagebrush will occupy the shallower, better-drained soils.
Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata wyomingensis) grows at low to intermediate elevations between basin and mountain big sagebrush, but also commonly overlaps in range with the other two subspecies.
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