Post-Fire Establishment of Vegetation Communities Following Reseeding on Southern Idaho's Snake River Plain

Abstract

In the western United States, big sagebrush (A. tridentata Nutt.) steppe communities dominate approximately 60 million ha (Wambolt and Hoffman 2001). This sagebrush steppe ecosystem occurs where plant communities exhibit a co-dominance of Artemisia and perennial grasses, and where there is a phase of herb domination (West and Young 2000). Big sagebrush steppe communities extend over much of Utah, Nevada, southern Idaho, eastern Oregon, western Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, and include smaller areas in Washington, California, Arizona, and New Mexico (Blaisdell, Murray, and McArthur 1982). Sagebrush dominated vegetation typically occurs in areas with a semiarid climatic regime that is characterized by cold winters and precipitation received primarily in the form of cool-season rain (Meyer 2003).