The Wyoming Basin shrub steppe is a high, arid intermontane ecoregion centered on western and central Wyoming, reaching into southern Montana, southeastern Idaho, northeastern Utah, and northwestern Colorado. Sagebrush steppe dominates the open landscape—Wyoming big sagebrush with perennial grasses such as bluebunch wheatgrass and Idaho fescue—interrupted by long sand dunes, grasslands, and cottonwood riparian corridors. Lying in mountain rain shadows, it has a semiarid climate with hot summers, cold winters, and generally less than 250 mm of annual precipitation. Drained by the North Platte, Wind-Bighorn, and Green rivers, it is the flagship range of the reintroduced black-footed ferret, though energy development and invasive cheatgrass pose ongoing threats.

At a glance

About the deserts & xeric shrublands biome

Arid and semi-arid lands where low, erratic rainfall and high evaporation limit vegetation to drought-adapted shrubs, succulents, and sparse grasses. Day-to-night temperature swings are large, and life is finely tuned to water scarcity.

National refinement sub-regions

Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion

Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer published current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.

Collections for this ecoregion

Curated multi-plant collections whose members all fit this ecoregion's zone range — no won't-grow members smuggled in. Overall fit class shown per collection is the weakest link across its members.

Related ecoregions