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A healthy sagebrush ecosystem consists of a diverse mixture of native shrubs, grasses and forbs that serve as food and cover for wildlife and are resilient enough to fight back invasive species that promote more wildfires. Photo credit: Dan Hottle/USFWS
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January 9, 2017
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plant ecologist who's every bit as tough and tenacious as the rocky, arid land she's trying to protect for more than 3,500 species of plants and 350 species of animals and other wildlife is proving why the often-overlooked study of botany may hold the key to helping save America's vast but rapidly declining "sagebrush sea."