Sagebrush desert is characterized by the sagebrush plant. The sagebrush plant is a perennial shrub that grows from between two to seven feet tall. A central trunk supports many outwardly growing branches. Sagebrush plants prefer dry and arid areas or rocky areas and usually grow at between 4,000 and 8,000 feet. Its evergreen leaves are a quarter to two inches long and it blooms in late summer when a single plant can produce over a million seeds. The sagebrush plant is the state plant of Nevada.
The area known as the sagebrush desert or sagebrush steppe covers a huge area of the western United States. It stretches from Oregon down to Nevada, California and Utah. It's a vast area of over 400,000 square miles -- in fact almost the entire state of Nevada is classified as sagebrush desert - and is one of the four main desert areas of the United States. It lies on great steppes that border the Rockies and has a very elevation of more than 4,000 feet and as such can be extremely cold at night and in winter months when snow is common.
The sagebrush desert has many micro-regions and includes plateaus and grasslands. The sagebrush desert is of course dominated by the sagebrush plant but many other plant species also exist. The sagebrush itself is often found in association with the yellow-blossomed rabbit-brush. In addition there are prickly pears, western juniper and pine trees.
Sagebrush deserts support a large array of wildlife. From bobcats to coyotes, rattlesnakes and other snake species, scorpions, centipedes, ants -- all manner of creatures thrive in this area. Bird species are very diverse, and toward the fringes of the Rockies the rare bighorn sheep may be seen. Other species found in the sagebrush steppe include the kangaroo rat, the black-tailed jackrabbit, skunks, ground squirrels, the kit fox and many species of mice.
