Shrub-Steppe Ecosystem

Shrub-steppe communities are amazingly complex, supporting a wide variety of vascular plants, cryptobiotic soil crusts, birds and animals. Less than 40% of the original area covered by shrub steppe remains unconverted in Washington. Scenes such as this one, of rolling hills with sagebrush, grass, and lupine on Yakima Ridge, are increasingly rare and so all the more precious.

	About the Shrub-Steppe

	Plant Assemblages

	Natural Processes

	Threats

	Additional Information