EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Changes in land use over the past century have resulted in the loss of over half of Washington's shrub-steppe habitat. Dramatic increases in dry-land agriculture and use of irrigation to expand farming and orchards has reduced the once expansive native grasslands and shrub-steppe to a fragmented landscape with very few large areas of native vegetation. The few remaining large areas of shrub-steppe are primarily on federal holdings (Yakima Training Center, Hanford Nuclear Site, and the Yakama Indian Nation) and may represent the only sites suitable for species requiring extensive areas of continuous shrub-steppe. Combined, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Washington Department of Natural Resources manage 12% of Washington's remaining shrub-steppe. The majority of extant shrub-steppe in Washington, however, exists on land owned by private individuals or corporations.
Washington's shrub-steppe communities support a wide diversity of wildlife.
