Lava Beds National Monument - California
Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc counties. The Monument lies on the northeastern flank of the Medicine Lake Volcano, and has the largest total area covered by a volcano in the Cascade Range.
maps Lava Beds - Visitor Map Official Visitor Map of Lava Beds National Monument (NM) in California. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Nobles Emigrant Trail - Trail Map Map of the Nobles Emigrant Trail section, part of the California National Historic Trail (NHT), located outside of Susanville, California. Published by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Klammath MVTM - Goosenest 2012 Motor Vehicle Travel Map (MVTM) of Goosenest in Klamath National Forest (NF) in California. Published by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
Klamath MVUM - Goosenest South 2020 Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) of Goosenest Ranger District South in Klamath National Forest (NF) in California. Published by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
https://www.nps.gov/labe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_Beds_National_Monument
Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc counties. The Monument lies on the northeastern flank of the Medicine Lake Volcano, and has the largest total area covered by a volcano in the Cascade Range.
Lava Beds National Monument is a land of turmoil, both geological and historical. Over the last half-million years, volcanic eruptions on the Medicine Lake shield volcano have created a rugged landscape dotted with diverse volcanic features. More than 800 caves, Native American rock art sites, historic battlefields and campsites, and a high desert wilderness experience await you!
Lava Beds is a truly remote park, in a corner of California most people never visit. Most roads into this area wind through mountains, and along rivers, and travel may take longer than expected. Services are few and far between and winter driving conditions can be encountered anytime between fall and spring.
Lava Beds Visitor Center
Lava Beds is home to one visitor center located at the south end of the park, near cave loop road. An entrance station is located at the north end of the park, but is only open in the summer. As you drive through the park you can find information kiosks with park maps at Petroglyph Point, and Gillem's Camp.
Lava Beds is truly a remote park, in a corner of California most people never visit. Most roads into this area wind through mountains and along rivers, and travel may take longer than expected. Services are few and far between, and winter driving conditions can be encountered any time between fall and spring. Remember to Plan Ahead - There is no gas available at Lava Beds. We encourage you to top your tank off in one of the nearby communities of Klamath Falls, OR, Merrill, OR, Tulelake, CA, or Alturas, CA.
Indian Well Campground
Lava Beds has one campground, Indian Well Campground, located 1/2 mile (0.8 km) from the Visitor Center and cave loop. There are 43 sites available on a first-come, first serve basis. Sites can accommodate tents, pickup campers, small trailers and motor homes up to 30 feet. Note: not all sites can accommodate motor homes.
Camping fee
10.00
Sites are $10 per night, per site, and include a picnic table fire ring and cooking grill. Quiet hours are from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and all campground rules apply to groups. Maximum 8 persons per site, 2 vehicles or 3 motorcycles. Maximum stay is 14 consecutive days in a 30-day period. Holders of an Access or Senior pass receive a 50% discount on their site. Pets are permitted in the campground, but must be on a leash no longer than 6 feet (1.8 m) Pets are not permitted in caves, trails or in buildings.
Campsite
Campsite
Campsite in A Loop
Sunrise at Lava Beds
Sunrise at Lava Beds
Sunrise at Lava Beds
Sunset at Lava Beds
Sunset at Lava Beds
Sunset at Lava Beds
Paintbrush along park trail
Paintbrush along park trail
Paintbrush along park trail
Schonchin Butte & Skull Cave
Schonchin Butte & Skull Cave
Schonchin Butte & Skull Cave
Snowy Sunrise
snowy sunrise at Hopkins Chocolate Cave
Snowy sunrise at Hopkins Chocolate Cave
Installation of a Bio-Cleaning Station & Planetary Exploration Experiments in Park Lava Tubes
In an effort to prevent the spread of White-Nose Syndrome in hibernating bats into the Monument, staff have developed a walk-across station to mitigate the risk of human WNS transmission. Monument lava tubes have also been recently used by researchers as an analog for the study of off-world lava fields and tubes.
4 rangers walking through shoe cleaning station
Carpenter Ant
Curious about carpenter ants? Explore their natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
close up photo of carpenter ant
National Parks Pitch In to Help Save Monarch Butterflies
As scientists and citizen scientists have noted, insect populations are plummeting across the globe. Monarch butterfly populations are no exception. Recent counts show that the western population has experienced a precipitous drop. As of 2018, the population of monarchs overwintering along the California coast stands at just 0.6% of what it was in the 1980s.
Monarch butterflies among eucalyptus leaves, viewed through a scope
Park Air Profiles - Lava Beds National Monument
Provides information about air pollution, research and monitoring, and related references specific to Lava Beds National Monument.
Queen Alexandra's Sulphur
Pileated Woodpecker
Curious about the pileated woodpecker in Oregon and California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Face and front of a woodpecker, with black body, red crest, and small blue berry in its beak.
Pikas in Peril
The National Park Service stewards pika populations in more than a dozen parks and seeks to understand the vulnerability of pikas and other mountain species to climate change. Pikas in Peril, funded in 2010, was a collaborative research program directed by scientists from the National Park Service, Oregon State University, University of Idaho, and University of Colorado-Boulder.
Profile of a pika on rough, dark red lava rock. © Michael Durham
Rough-legged Hawk
Curious about our wintering visitor to Oregon and California, the rough-legged hawk? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Large hawk in flight with dark and light coloring underneath.
NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Lava Beds National Monument, California
Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park. Links to products from Baseline Geologic and Soil Resources Inventories provide access to maps and reports. [Site Under Development]
snow covered landscape
Bat Projects in Parks: Lava Beds National Monument
Find out how Lava Beds National Monument is holding the line for bat conservation.
Ariel view of Lava Beds National Monument
Bats in Caves
Bats and caves go together in people's minds. National Parks are home to many important bat caves. But, bats are particular. Many caves only contain a few bats. Some bats like certain caves for raising their young and other caves for winter hibernation. Other bats avoid caves entirely and sleep and raise their young in protected locations in trees and rocks outside.
a group of bats hanging on a cave ceiling
Short-eared Owl
Curious about the short-eared owl in Oregon and California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Owl with short feather tufts above eyes, buffy, streaked breast, and brownish body.
Giant Water Bug
Curious about giant water bugs in Oregon and California? Explore their natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.”
Brown, flattened but with many whitish, columnar eggs attached to its back.
Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway
One of only 42 All American Roads in the Nation, the 500-mile route connects Lassen Volcanic and Crater Lake National Parks. The volcanic activity of the Cascade Mountain Range has created unique geological formations that can only be seen in this part of America.
A white car on a mountain road with a large mountain in the background
Ladybug
Curious about ladybugs in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore their natural history in this edition of our monthly "Featured Creature," brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Cluster of small orange ladybug beetles with black spots on their backs, on vegetation.
Sandhill Crane
Curious about the sandhill crane in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Two large grayish-brown cranes stand together with wings outspread
Anna's Hummingbird
Curious about the Anna's hummingbird in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Small, green hummingbird with narrow bill and iridescent rose-colored feathers on throat and crown.
Actinobacteria
Curious about Actinobacteria in southern Oregon and northern California caves? Explore their natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
golden-brown interior cave wall with person wearing helmet and cave clothing crouched at its base
Parks, pikas, and physiological stress: Implications for long-term monitoring of an NPS climate-sensitive sentinel species
Baseline values of physiological stress can be incorporated into monitoring plans for pikas, providing park managers with additional information related to the vulnerability of this climate-sensitive model species that occurs within a large number of western parks.
American pika (Copyright Dick Orleans)
Orange Sulphur
Curious about the orange sulphur butterfly in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly "Featured Creature," brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Yellowish-orange butterfly with dark band along the wing edges perches with wings open.
Great Gray Owl
Curious about the great gray owl in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Large gray-checkered owl with outspread wings comes to land on a post.
Ruffed Grouse
Curious about the ruffed grouse in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Grouse with reddish brown and white mottling and streaking, a head crest and a dark tail band.
UV-C Light Could Control White-Nose Syndrome, but First Let’s Ask the Cave Biota
White-nose syndrome causes bats to wake up more frequently during hibernation, wasting precious fat reserves, which often leads to starvation. With the fungus that causes it having spread to the West Coast, Klamath Inventory & Monitoring Network scientists and park staff are checking the health of local bat populations and collaborating with researchers to find a treatment before it potentially turns up at the network’s two cave parks: Oregon Caves NM and Lava Beds NM.
Brazilian freetailed bat under UV light.
Series: Inside Earth – NPS Cave & Karst News – Summer 2017
This newsletter is produced as a forum for information and idea exchanges between National Park Service units that contain caves and karst landscapes. It also provides a historical overview and keeps partners and other interested folks aware of cave and karst management activities.
4 rangers walk through shoe cleaning station
Series: Geologic Time Periods in the Cenozoic Era
The Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago [MYA] through today) is the "Age of Mammals." North America’s characteristic landscapes began to develop during the Cenozoic. Birds and mammals rose in prominence after the extinction of giant reptiles. Common Cenozoic fossils include cat-like carnivores and early horses, as well as ice age woolly mammoths.
fossils on display at a visitor center
Series: National Park Service Geodiversity Atlas
The servicewide Geodiversity Atlas provides information on <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/geoheritage-conservation.htm">geoheritage</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/geodiversity.htm">geodiversity</a> resources and values all across the National Park System to support science-based management and education. The <a href="https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1088/index.htm">NPS Geologic Resources Division</a> and many parks work with National and International <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/park-geology.htm">geoconservation</a> communities to ensure that NPS abiotic resources are managed using the highest standards and best practices available.
park scene mountains
Series: Cave Week—Featured Articles
More than 20 parks across the US are participating in Cave Week via social media posts, cave tours, exhibits, school events, web pages and much more. The theme for Cave Week 2020 is, “Why do we go into caves?” This articles shares a few stories about why people (and bats) enter caves.
person standing by underground lake in a cave
Series: Park Air Profiles
Clean air matters for national parks around the country.
Photo of clouds above the Grand Canyon, AZ
Quaternary Period—2.58 MYA to Today
Massive ice sheets advanced and retreated across North America during much of the Quaternary, carving landscapes in many parks. Bering Land Bridge National Preserve contains geologic evidence of lower sea level during glacial periods, facilitating the prehistoric peopling of the Americas. The youngest rocks in the NPS include the lava of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the travertine at Yellowstone National Park, which can be just a few hours old.
fossil bone bed and murals of mammoths
Cenozoic Era
The Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago [MYA] through today) is the "Age of Mammals." North America’s characteristic landscapes began to develop during the Cenozoic. Birds and mammals rose in prominence after the extinction of giant reptiles. Common Cenozoic fossils include cat-like carnivores and early horses, as well as ice age woolly mammoths.
fossils on display in a visitor center
Douglas's Squirrel
Curious about the Douglas's squirrel in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Medium-sized squirrel with tawny belly, gray back, whitish eye ring, and tufts on ears, in a tree.
Scientist Profile: Alice Chung-MacCoubrey, Biologist and I&M Program Manager
Meet Alice Chung-MacCoubrey, ecologist and program manager for the Klamath Inventory & Monitoring Network! Discover how Alice followed her passion for wildlife and the outdoors to the National Park Service Inventory & Monitoring Program, and learn about her work studying bats.
Biologist holds bat with gloved hands.
The Northwestern Bat Hub: Banding Together for Bat Monitoring Across the West
The first detection of white-nose syndrome in the American West in 2016 highlighted an urgent need to better understand the distribution and ecology of around twenty species of bats in Western states. To do this, ecologists in several Inventory & Monitoring Networks and National Parks joined with the USGS and ten other university and agency partners to expand the North American Bat Monitoring Program to sites across the West and develop the Northwestern Bat Hub.
Close-up of a western mastiff bat in a gloved hand.
Blanket Cave National Youth Park—Activity
Enjoy a fun activity and learn about caves even when you can't get out to a park. In this activity you will build your own cave and learn how to make it like a "real" natural cave. Find out about cave formations and wildlife, and how to be safe and care for caves. New "Blanket Cave National Youth Parks" are springing up all across America! Join the fun!
cartoon drawing of a childs and a park ranger exploring a cave
Did You Know We Never Hire Women?
In 1920, as Ranger Isabel Bassett Wasson arrived at Yellowstone, Dr. Harold C. Bryant and Dr. Loye Holmes Miller launched the new NPS education program with the Free Nature Guide Service at Yosemite National Park.
Female Ranger talks to a crowd
Vaux's Swift
Curious about the Vaux's swift in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
A small, pale brown, cigar-shaped bird with narrow, pointed wings, in flight.
American Black Bear
Curious about the American black bear in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Black-colored black bear with a dandelion in its mouth.
The Klamath Kaleidoscope: Fall-Winter 2021
In this issue of the Klamath Kaleidoscope, we share news of the newly published geologic type section inventory of Klamath Network parks, the latest results from white-nose syndrome monitoring in bats, our new data workflow system, updates from 2021 vital signs monitoring, and recent publications. We also highlight news about Klamath Network people, including Addis Gonzalez, Sean Mohren, Sonya Daw, Jennifer Chenoweth, and Elizabeth Raynal.
Kaleidoscope image of a flower and other natural scenes.
Saving Our Sagebrush Sea
A recent study underscores the importance of protecting sagebrush lands in national parks to prevent a national treasure from disappearing.
Sagebrush lands in front of the Teton Range in Wyoming
Sugar Pine
Curious about the sugar pine tree in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Long brown pine cone.
Changing Patterns of Water Availability May Change Vegetation Composition in US National Parks
Across the US, changes in water availability are altering which plants grow where. These changes are evident at a broad scale. But not all areas experience the same climate in the same way, even within the boundaries of a single national park. A new dataset gives park managers a valuable tool for understanding why vegetation has changed and how it might change in the future under different climate-change scenarios.
Green, orange, and dead grey junipers in red soil, mountains in background
Volcanic Domes
Lava domes are steep-sided rounded accumulations of highly viscous silicic lava over a vent. Some domes are part of composite volcanoes, but large ones can make up their own volcanoes. Lassen Peak is a dome.
photo of a rounded hill of blocky rock
Merlin
Curious about the merlin in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Small, perched falcon with brown back, brown streaked breast, dark eyes and slight white eyebrow.
Lava Tree Mold Fossils
Tree mold impressions are trace fossils that develop within lava flows.
tree mold fossil appears as a round hole in lava rock with still glowing lava and wood embers inside
Shield Volcanoes
Shield volcanoes are typically very large volcanoes with very gentle slopes made up of basaltic lava flows. Mauna Loa and Kilauea in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park are shield volcanoes.
diagram of a shield volcano with lava features
Cinder Cones
Cinder cones are typically simple volcanoes that consist of accumulations of ash and cinders around a vent. Sunset Crater Volcano and Capulin Volcano are cinder cones.
photo of a dry grassy field with a cinder cone in the distance
Lava Lakes
Lakes of molten or solidified lava are usually only found in pit craters or calderas (both are types of collapse features) on shield volcanoes. Lava lakes may occasionally occur within other vent areas, or sometimes even on pooled lava flows. Long-lasting lava lakes typically only form in places where there is good connectivity with a shallow magma reservoir.
photo of a lava lake taken with a thermal camera
Series: Volcanic Features
Volcanoes vary greatly in size and shape. Volcanoes also may have a variety of other features, which in turn, have a great range in diversity of form, size, shape, and permanence. Many volcanoes have craters at their summits and/or at the location of other vents. Some craters contain water lakes. Lakes of molten or solidified lava may exist on some volcanoes. Fumaroles and other geothermal features are a product of heat from magma reservoirs and volcanic gases.
photo of a lava lake in a summit crater
Toby Riddle
Toby Riddle was a Modoc woman who served as a translator for the US Army during the Modoc War of 1872 to 1873, which took place in the ancestral homelands of the Modoc people, now part of Lava Beds National Monument.
Native American woman with long hair, stripped shawl and beaded necklace, gazes at camera.
Series: Volcano Types
Volcanoes vary in size from small cinder cones that stand only a few hundred feet tall to the most massive mountains on earth.
photo of a volcanic mountain with snow and ice
Fissure Volcanoes
Fissure volcanoes erupt from elongated vents (fissures) rather than a central vent. The lava flows in Craters of the Moon National Monument were erupted from fissures.
aerial photo of a line of volcanic cones and lava flows
Ranger Roll Call, 1950-1959
In the 1950s, women in uniform continue to work as guides, historians, and archeologists. Few women had permanent positions. A handful of women began to get seasonal ranger-naturalists positions at large national parks for the first time in two decades.
Ann Livesay in her NPS uniform standing in front of a low wall at the edge of the Grand Canyon.
Pillow Basalts
Pillow basalts are named for the rounded shapes that form when lava cools rapidly underwater.
photo of golden gate bridge
Block Flows
Block lava flows have surfaces that consist of large angular blocks of lava.
photo of blocky lava flows in a mountain valley.
Kīpukas
Kipuka are pockets of older land surfaces surrounded by younger lava flows. Kipukas are often stand out as more vegetated areas and may be older lavas or other bedrocks and surface deposits.
aerial photo of a kipuka with trees surrounded by fresh lava flows
Inflation Structures, Lava-Rise Plateaus & Inflation Pits
At least five units of the National Park System contain inflation structures such as lava-rise plateaus and inflation pits. Inflation is the process that occurs when lava continues to be supplied within a solidified crust of a basaltic lava flow, causing the flow surface to be lifted upward. Inflation can cause lava flows to substantially thicken and create other features such as tumuli, inflation pits, and inflation clefts to form.
photo of volcanic landscape covered with broken lava rock
Jumping Spider
Curious about the jumping spider in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
front view of jumping spider
Studying the Past and Predicting the Future Using Rat Nests
In the western United States, packrat middens are one of the best tools for reconstructing recent environments and climates. These accumulations of plant fragments, small vertebrate remains, rodent droppings, and other fossils can be preserved for more than 50,000 years. Packrat middens have been found in at least 41 National Park Service units.
Photo of a wood rat.
Series: Park Paleontology News - Vol. 14, No. 2, Fall 2022
All across the park system, scientists, rangers, and interpreters are engaged in the important work of studying, protecting, and sharing our rich fossil heritage. <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/newsletters.htm">Park Paleontology news</a> provides a close up look at the important work of caring for these irreplaceable resources. <ul><li>Contribute to Park Paleontology News by contacting the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/common/utilities/sendmail/sendemail.cfm?o=5D8CD5B898DDBB8387BA1DBBFD02A8AE4FBD489F4FF88B9049&r=/subjects/geoscientistsinparks/photo-galleries.htm">newsletter editor</a></li><li>Learn more about <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/">Fossils & Paleontology</a> </li><li>Celebrate <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossilday/">National Fossil Day</a> with events across the nation</li></ul>
Photo of a person sitting while using a laboratory microscope.
Common Green Darner
Curious about common green darner in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Two large dragonflies, connected head to tail. Greenish brown one has tail in water.
The Klamath Kaleidoscope: Fall-Winter 2022
In this issue of the Klamath Kaleidoscope, we share an article about the rocky intertidal community, as well as news about post-Dixie Fire monitoring, the upcoming Klamath Conversations gathering, vital sign monitoring this past year, and recent publications. We also highlight news about Klamath Network people, including Sean Smith’s departure, Sonya Daw’s award, intern Sarah Gwynn’s experience, and where our 2011 intern, Shadassa Ourshalimian, has landed in his career.
Kaleidoscope of nature images.
Series: Geologic Time—Major Divisions and NPS Fossils
The National Park System contains a magnificent record of geologic time because rocks from each period of the geologic time scale are preserved in park landscapes. The geologic time scale is divided into four large periods of time—the Cenozoic Era, Mesozoic Era, Paleozoic Era, and The Precambrian.
photo of desert landscape with a petrified wood log on the surface
Series: Women's History in the Pacific West - California-Great Basin Collection
Biographies from Northern California, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada
Map of northern California, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada
Common Raven
Curious about the common raven in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our quarterly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Glossy black head of raven vocalizing, with long, ruffed out neck feathers.
Conversations about Conservation: Eight years of scientific sharing in northern California and southern Oregon
The annual December 2022 gathering of Klamath Conversations, a meeting of the parks within the National Park Service’s Klamath Network, hosted 19 presenters across a wide variety of topics. Not surprisingly, the topic of wildland fire dominated the talks, as network parks have burned extensively over the past few years.
A person on stage behind a podium with a large screen nearby that reads 'Some Like It Hot'.
Checking Lava Beds' Vital Signs
In 2010, the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network—a small team of NPS scientists—began monitoring natural resources, called "vital signs," in Lava Beds National Monument and nearby parks. Vital signs indicate park health and serve as red flags if conditions deteriorate. Results from monitoring these vital signs support park managers’ efforts to make science-based management decisions. Learn about the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Division and its work in Lava Beds.
Lava tube cave opening just below the surface of a high desert landscape.
A New Look at Lava
Volcanologist Erika Rader's first thought about visual near-infrared spectroscopy equipment was, "I don't understand this and therefore I don't believe it works, but planetary scientists use it a lot so maybe I should give it a think." Soon after, she wanted to share the technology with others.
Two people walk across a dark hardened lava field with snowy peaks in the background
NPS Establishes NPSage Initiative to Restore Sagebrush-Steppe Ecosystems
Artemisia species, commonly known as sagebrush, are far from being the only species on the landscape. The sagebrush biome is composed of a rich mosaic of thousands of diverse plant species, which are largely driven by differences in climate, soil and elevation. These distinct sagebrush plant and animal communities occur in approximately 70 park units across the western U.S— all of which are experiencing significant threats from wildfire and droughts.
Two NPS staff knealing next to plants growing in a nursery