Streams are rare and few are permanent. Many mountains rise steeply from the semiarid, sagebrush-covered plains. These mountains are generally well covered by vegetation, and their upper elevations usually bear sparse conifer forests. Temperate semidesert in Utah. Shadscale is the principal shrub shown.
Spring comes early, except at higher elevations.
Almost no rain falls during the summer months except in the mountains. Other important plants in the sagebrush belt are antelope bitterbrush, shadscale, fourwing saltbush, rubber rabbitbrush, spiny hopsage, horsebrush, and short-statured Gambel oak. All these shrubs tolerate alkali to varying degrees, essential to their survival on the poorly drained soils widespread in the region. Although sagebrush now dominates this zone, it may not represent climax growth, but rather a disclimax produced by overgrazing. In plots protected from fire, grasses typical of the Palouse grassland or mixed-grass steppe gradually become dominant.