Oregon’s Sagebrush Species

Author: Renee Schiavone  |  Published: June 10, 2024  | Category: Species Spotlight

This article originally appeared in the Spring + Summer 2024 Desert Ramblings

The high desert is teeming with a diversity of wildlife, including species that are found nowhere else on the planet.

Oregon’s high desert is a landscape filled with dramatic contrasts and surprising subtlety. Poetically dubbed the “Sagebrush Sea,” the signature shrub dominates the region. With dry conditions year round, summers are intensely hot and winters bitterly cold. Wildlife certainly don’t have an easy time of it. And yet, an astonishing abundance of life thrives here.

Living in the Sagebrush Sea, with all its variations in elevation, temperature and precipitation, requires unique adaptations of its inhabitants. Native vegetation can survive on less than 12 inches of rain per year, with big sagebrush and rabbitbrush flourishing throughout the region, as well as Oregon’s oldest known tree, the western juniper. Wildflowers and waving bunchgrasses fill the understory, and lichens and moss cling to every possible surface. It is within this ecosystem that hundreds of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and insects flourish. Often shy and reclusive, those who are patient will be rewarded as these creatures reveal themselves, including species found nowhere else in the world.

Desert Fish and Wildlife

Here are just some of the fish and wildlife you can expect to see in Oregon’s high desert throughout the year.

Large Desert Mammals

Mule deer, pronghorn, coyotes, American badgers and both black- and white-tailed jackrabbits are commonly seen in Oregon’s high desert. Elk, bighorn sheep, bobcats, mountain lions, red foxes, North American porcupines and North American beavers are also found in some parts of the region.

Small Desert Mammals

Smaller desert mammals include long-tailed weasels, woodchucks, cottontail rabbits, pygmy rabbits, pika, golden-mantled ground squirrels, antelope squirrels, Townsend’s chipmunk, yellow-pine chipmunks, Ord’s kangaroo rats and northern pocket gophers. Mice species include desert woodrat, northern grasshopper mouse, western harvest mouse, deer mouse, meadow mouse, sagebrush vole and creeping vole. There are also numerous bat species that depend on the high desert.

Diverse Desert Birds

The high desert supports a remarkable diversity ofbirdlife. Iconic and well-known species include greatersage-grouse, golden eagle and sage thrasher. High desertlakes, streams and wetlands support American dusky flycatchers, yellow warblers, orange-crowned warblers, housewrens, spotted towhees, Brewer’s sparrow, sagebrush sparrow, western meadowlarks, swallows and nighthawks. Mountain chickadees, Cassin’s finches, black-headed grosbeaks, green-tailed towhees, yellow-rumped warblers, MacGillivray’s warblers, mountain bluebirds, common ravens, northern flickers and white-headed woodpeckers are common in parts of the region. Owls are essential to functioning desert ecosystems, ranging from tiny burrowing owls to grandiose great horned owls. At least fifteen species of eagles, hawks and falcons can also be found soaring over the desert or darting across the landscape, including merlin, American kestrels, Cooper’s hawk and northern goshawk.

Spectacular Desert Fish

It might be surprising to learn that Oregon’s high desert is home to myriad fish species, including threatened populations of Lahontan cutthroat trout, bull trout, Hutton tui chub, Warner sucker and steelhead. Many of these fish evolved from populations that became isolated in lakes and drainages throughout the high desert over millennia. Absent of dams and among the longest free-flowing rivers in the nation, the John Day River and its tributaries are a stronghold for desert fish, including steelhead, Chinook salmon, bull trout, westslope cutthroat trout and interior redband trout.

Resplendent Desert Reptiles

Often forgotten are the most mysterious desert critters—our reptiles and amphibians. Keep your eyes out for sagebrush lizards, Great Basin collard lizards, sideblotched lizards, western rattlesnake and western toad throughout the high desert.

Essential Desert Insects

Often maligned, insects and other invertebrates are vital, fascinating and deserving of their own article. They pollinate plants, control pests, cycle nutrients and serve as food for a vast array of fish and wildlife. One survey found more than 1,240 species of insects in just one swath of sagebrush habitat in Idaho.

Wildlife Conservation

Among the remarkably broad range of species that live in Oregon’s Sagebrush Sea are a distinct batch of wildlife that would not exist without sagebrush habitats. Known as “sagebrush obligates,” they are both dependent upon and serve as indicators of the health of the high desert where they live.

Classic sagebrush obligates include greater sagegrouse, pronghorn and pygmy rabbit. These animals can only thrive in a healthy sagebrush steppe ecosystem, so protecting and restoring these habitats is the only way to sustain populations of these critters.

Within the thousands of square miles of sagebrush habitats in eastern Oregon are rare and unique environments that support species that specialize in those habitat niches. For example, more than 80 species of migratory waterbirds flock to Lake Abert every year, while most other wildlife have no use for the hyper-saline lake. California bighorn sheep, specially adapted to mountain cliffs and river canyons, rarely descend from their protected ridgelines, content to feed and raise their young out of reach of predators.

Fragile desert lands and waters face increasing threats from climate change, development and other human uses, invasive species and wildfire. Habitat loss and fragmentation upset the delicate balance of life in this landscape.

These pressures limit habitat and erode healthy ecosystems desert wildlife need to survive. The region’s wetlands provide habitat for the greatest diversity of species. And yet, these areas are among the most threatened. Consequently, both rare and once common species that depend on these resources are now declining.

ONDA’s landscape-scale conservation strategies, engagement in desert planning and policymaking, and restoration projects offer a solution.

For key species like beavers and redband trout, healthy desert rivers and streams foster life.

fact

Bobcat

Bobcat

Found only in North America, where it is the most common wildcat, the bobcat takes its common name from its stubby, or “bobbed,” tail. The cats range in length from two to four feet and weigh 14 to 29 pounds. Bobcats mainly hunt rabbits and hares, but they will also eat rodents, birds, bats, and even adult deer.

Latin name: Lynx rufus fasciatus

 

voices

Helen Harbin, ONDA Board Member

Helen Harbin, ONDA Board Member

“I connect with Oregon’s high desert through my feet, my eyes, my sense of smell, and all the things I hear. Getting out there is a whole body experience.” Supporting ONDA, Helen says, not only connects her with wild landscapes, but is also a good investment. “I felt like if I gave them $20, they might squeeze $23 out of it.”

voices

Durlin Hicock, Alice Elshoff Award winner

Durlin Hicock, Alice Elshoff Award winner

“Protecting public land is part of my spiritual being. It’s central to my identity to be in wilderness and to see it protected.” Durlin is proud to protect public lands for future generations, saying, “The highlight of my childhood was our family’s weekend outdoor trips. I look forward to my grandchildren having similar experiences outside in their lifetimes, and it wouldn’t be possible without ONDA.”

Pygmy Rabbit

North America’s smallest rabbit species, pygmy rabbit weigh a quarter to half pound and measure about the size of a grapefruit. Pygmy rabbits depend on sagebrush for food and shelter. Despite their small size, pygmys dig their own burrows, typically at the base of a sagebrush shrub. Reduced sagebrush habitats threatens pygmy rabbit populations. The species was recently petitioned for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Greater Sage-Grouse

An iconic species native to Oregon’s high desert, the greater sage-grouse thrives in healthy sagebrush steppe. This charismatic ambassador of the Sagebrush Sea, known for its elaborate mating displays, is a favorite for wildlife watchers in Oregon and from around the world. Unfortunately, the species has suffered an 80 percent decline rangewide since 1965. In Oregon, numbers dipped to the lowest ever recorded in 2019.

Pronghorn

Unique to North America, pronghorn are found throughout the open plains and grasslands of the Sagebrush Sea. Undisputedly the fastest mammal on the continent, pronghorn adapted long ago to outrun the now-extinct American cheetah. Pronghorn almost followed the way of the American cheetah, declining to as few as 10,000 to 15,000 individuals in the early 20th century. Decades of conservation efforts have saved the pronghorn, though the species will require continued attention into the future.

Redband Trout

Unique to high desert streams, redband trout have adapted to flourish in arid landscapes, developing a greater tolerance for high water temperatures and lower dissolved oxygen levels than most other trout. Still, the species needs abundant, cool water characteristic of healthy streams to survive long-term. Unfortunately, redband trout populations are struggling across large parts of the desert due to diminished streamflow and habitat loss.

California Bighorn Sheep

Once ranging far and wide in the West, the California subspecies of bighorn was reintroduced and continues to make their home in Oregon’s high desert— though finding them is certainly a challenge. They favor rocky ridges and river canyons in some of the most remote corners of the region. In the 1800s, nearly all populations in North America were wiped out, primarily due to unregulated hunting. Today, California bighorn sheep, now numbering 4,000 statewide, are closely managed and monitored.

Beaver

Serving as nature’s ecosystem engineers, beavers are invaluable streamside habitat developers, playing a vital role in the health and resilience of desert waterways, to the benefit of fish, other wildlife and a huge diversity of desert plants. Heavy trapping in the era of European settlement nearly eliminated beavers from the high desert. Fortunately, their populations are beginning to stabilize and special efforts are underway to restore beavers to desert waterways in need of their ecosystem services.

ONDA’s efforts to bolster native plants beavers use for food and shelter are happily increasing the species’ once-declining range again. This population uptick puts beavers back to work restoring desert creeks and rivers which in turn improves habitat for fish, such as the redband trout.

ONDA has developed our Desert Wildlife conservation campaign to make the most of an unprecedented opportunity now before us. To ensure a future for these magnificent fish and wildlife and the habitats they need, ONDA is advocating for wildlife protections along with improved land management, preservation of wildlands, regulation of recreational opportunities and other steps. This will include investing in efforts to shape several state and federal wildlife plans that will identify and protect key wildlife habitats and migration corridors. And efforts like our Owyhee Canyonlands campaign, an initiative to protect than 1 million acres of desert land, offer even more opportunities to support Oregon desert wildlife.

Advocacy

Each of ONDA’s primary programs works to ensure that these fragile species and the ecosystems they depend on for survival are protected.

There are several ways we as individuals can aid in providing healthy homes for diverse populations of fish and wildlife. For starters, consider getting out in the desert to give it some care. Taking part in a stewardship trip is one way to improve the health of the desert in a hands-on way. For a longer lasting impact, engaging in advocacy actions is a way to speak up for the lands and wildlife you love by encouraging lawmakers to take permanent action to protect the high desert.

Photo Credits: Pygmy Rabbit – Peter Lancaster, Greater Sage-Grouse – Chris Christie, Pronghorn – Tara Lemezis, California Bighorn Sheep – Shannon Phifer, Beaver – Michael S. Quinton

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