• GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
• ECOSYSTEMS
• STATES
• BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS
• KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS
• SAF COVER TYPES
• SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES
• HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Big sagebrush is one of the most widespread and economically important shrubs in western North America [39]. Basin big sagebrush is the most extensive in distribution and range of variation in the Great Basin and Columbia Plateau [108]. It is distributed from Washington east to the Dakotas and south to California, Arizona, and New Mexico [114]. Basin big sagebrush is found from the floor of the Great Basin to upper timberline, although it is not abundant in all zones [108]. It occurs in relatively small stands east of the Cascades in Oregon [117].

ECOSYSTEMS:

FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES40 Desert grasslands

STATES:

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:

5 Columbia Plateau
6 Upper Basin and Range
7 Lower Basin and Range
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
9 Middle Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
16 Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands

KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

K022 Great Basin pine forest
K023 Juniper-pinyon woodland
K024 Juniper steppe woodland
K037 Mountain mahogany-oak scrub
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K039 Blackbrush
K040 Saltbush-greasewood
K041 Creosotebush
K051 Wheatgrass-bluegrass
K055 Sagebrush steppe
K056 Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe
K057 Galleta-three-awn shrubsteppe
K064 Grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass
K066 Wheatgrass-needlegrass

SAF COVER TYPES:

220 Rocky Mountain juniper
237 Interior ponderosa pine

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:

104 Antelope bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
107 Western juniper-big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
210 Bitterbrush
212 Blackbrush
302 Bluebunch wheatgrass-Sandberg bluegrass
303 Bunchgrass wheatgrass-western wheatgrass
304 Idaho fescue-bluebunch wheatgrass
314 Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
316 Big sagebrush-rough fescue
320 Black sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
321 Black sagebrush-Idaho fescue
322 Curlleaf mountain mahogany-bluebunch wheatgrass
324 Threetip sagebrush-Idaho fescue
401 Basin sagebrush
412 Juniper-pinyon woodland
415 Curlleaf mountain-mahogany
416 True mountain-mahogany
504 Juniper-pinyon woodlands
607 Wheatgrass-needlegrass
608 Wheatgrass-grama-needlegrass
611 Blue grama-buffalograss
612 Sagebrush-grass
615 Wheatgrass-saltgrass-grama

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

Basin big sagebrush commonly grows in association with cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Thurber needlegrass (Achnatherum thurberianum), needle-and-thread grass (Hesperostipa comata), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), and Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda) [51,117].

Common shrub associates include broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae) and green rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus) [51]. Basin big sagebrush is a climax dominant on semiarid sites in the Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, and the Southwest. Publications describing community types dominated by basin big sagebrush are listed below.

A preliminary classification of the natural vegetation of Colorado [2]
Steppe vegetation of Washington [29]
Sagebrush-grass habitat types of southern Idaho [50]
Plant associations of the Crooked River National Grassland [52]
A sagebrush community type classification for mountainous northeastern Nevada rangeland [57]
Correlation between soils and sagebrush-dominated plant communities of northeastern Nevada [58]
Soil characteristics of mountainous northeastern Nevada sagebrush community types [59]
Grassland and shrubland habitat types of western Montana [76]
Shrub-steppe habitat types of Middle Park, Colorado [98]
Grassland and shrubland habitat types of the Shoshone National Forest [101]
A management-oriented classification of pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Great Basin [116]

Related categories for SPECIES: Artemisia tridentata ssp. tridentata | Basin Big Sagebrush