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Map Satellite One of the few areas in the County where the bunch grasses, Stipa spp., form the predominant vegetation, this area lies on a rather steeply inclined "flat". The grasses are mixed with sagebrush scrub consisting primarily of basin sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata, and antelope bush, Purshia tridentata. A pinyon-pine woodland borders the open area.
Formerly many of the flats in the County were covered with native grasses and the pronghorn, Antilocapra americana, was common; deer, Odocoileus hemionus, rare. With the coming of the cattle and sheep in the last century, the flats were grazed and the sagebrush scrub took over. The deer, which favor the antelope brush as winter forage, became increasingly abundant while the pronghorn disappeared.
Merriam's shrew, Sorex merriami, probably occurs in this area. Little is known of this (unofficially) rare shrew.
Integrity: A road bisects the area, and the grasses have been grazed. Banner Spring has been developed as a stock watering hole.
Use: Research, educational, observational. This or a similar area should be closed to grazing and managed to allow the native grasses to restore themselves.
January 1976
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman
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