In May 2021, I hiked the entire 750-mile-long Oregon Desert Trail, touring the high desert plant communities of central and eastern Oregon on foot. Throughout this otherwise lonely trek, one plant was my constant companion: big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.). All three of the major subspecies of this aromatic shrub are found in Oregon. Lower-elevation […]
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Say Hello to Big Sagebrush
This quiet ecosystem engineer builds communities from the ground up