Artemisia tridentata
relatively mesic and fertile Snake River Plain. Plant communities in which Townsend's ground squirrels occur include crested wheatgrass ("Agropyron cristatum"), big sagebrush ("Artemisia tridentata") wheatgrass, rabbitbrush ("Chrysothamnus" spp.), shadscale ("Atriplex confertifolia"), and winterfat ("Kraschenninikovia lanata") grasslands.