Sagebrush scrub

Sagebrush scrub is a vegetation type (biome) of mid to high elevation Western United States deserts characterized by low growing, drought resistant shrubs including sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and its associates. It is the dominant vegetation type of the Great Basin Desert (Great Basin shrub steppe), occurs along the margins of the Mojave Desert, including in the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevadas and Transverse Ranges of California, and occurs in the Colorado Plateau and Canyonlands region, where it may be referred to as cool desert shrub.

It often occurs adjacent to piñon-juniper woodland communities, between 4,000 and 7,000 feet elevation, and where annual precipitation is 8"-15", much falling as snow.

Sometimes it occurs in pure stands of sagebrush, or with associates that vary from region to region. Sagebrush scrub may occur as an understory of pinyon-juniper woodland.