Damp, grassy banks forced the water into a narrow channel. Upstream, in the clear water, we could see the sinuous forms of two trout. Some people assume cutbanks along Western streams are natural. Next to it, the land was tawny with late-season grass. Nunn says sage takes over after the original grasses and broader-leafed plants have been hammered by generations of livestock.
Some sagebrush is natural.
A landscape dominated by it is not. The grassy area suggests how the refuge must have looked before livestock arrived. The lack of livestock obviously has done wonders for the landscape. But after the cattle left, a funny thing happened to the antelope herd. The survival rate of fawns plunged toward oblivion.