The establishment
of the INL on the sagebrush desert of the upper Snake River Plain had an
unforeseen public benefit—the protection of the natural flora and fauna of
the sagebrush ecosystem.The
INL is the largest of the few protected reserves within the sagebrush
steppe, which is the most extensive semi-desert
vegetation type of the Intermountain West.
Permanent vegetation plots were established at
the INL in 1950 along perpendicular transects (see map below).
These plots are sampled routinely,
providing the opportunity to study vegetation dynamics in a large area of
natural sagebrush steppe in the absence of grazing by domestic
livestock.
Changes in the INL sagebrush
habitat1 documented from this vegetation study include :
A increase in the cover of perennial
grasses.
A general increase in average
species richness.
An increase of the mean number
of species of shrubs, perennial grasses, and perennial forbs per plot.
An rapidly expanded cheatgrass
(B. tectorum) distribution in the decade between 1965 and 1975,
although its presence does not appear to be a major threat to the
integrity of most native plant communities yet.
1Anderson,
Jay E. and Richard Inouye. Long-term Vegetation Dynamics in Sagebrush
Steppe at the Idaho National Laboratory.
Environmental Science and Research Foundation. July 1999.
