CONDITION AND PLANTS OF THE KANGE. l7 



annuals {Festuca microstcbchya and F. ociojlora) of less value are found 

 on these benches especially, but are also scattered more or less through- 

 out the region. 



At the present time the forage plants other than grasses are of little 

 consequence. As sheep are introduced the shrubbery and weedy plants 

 will be utilized to a greater extent, as they are elsewhere in open- 

 range regions; even the clovers appear to be of little consequence here. 

 It must be stated, however, that the observations were made entirely too 

 early in the season to estimate the value of this class of vegetation. 

 Even in the Kittitas Valley and the Wenatchee Mountains, where these 

 plants are of considerable importance, both as hay and pasture, the 

 season was not far enough advanced to enable one to judge of their 

 value. The black sunflower ( Wyethia am^plexicaulis), balsam root 

 {BaZsa/iriorrhiza sagittata and B. careyana) are utilized for pasture to 

 some extent, especially by horses. These plants are of most impor- 

 tance, however, in the region lying to the southwest, especially the 

 Kittitas and Wenas valleys. On the range they are often grazed quite 

 closely by sheep, but all kinds of stock feed on the flower heads and 

 the fruit wherever they are found. 



The Big Bend region naturally presents a great diversity of condi- 

 tions. Some of it is covered with an almost pure growth of bunch 

 wheat grass, while other areas have a mixture of fescues and blue- 

 grasses, and still others have but little grass and are covered with a 

 heavy growth of sagebrush. Part of the area is still open range, 

 while part is systematically handled; consequently this locality pre- 

 sents the greatest diversity in feed conditions. On all the unprotected 

 range visited the feed was very short. The greatest amount of unpro- 

 tected country seen was in the vicinity of the mouth of the Palouse 

 River, where there was practically no grass, and even plantain (/'/<///- 

 tago jmr.sjui) was extensively grazed in places. Along Cow Creek, 

 however, where the grazing lands are on '"scab" between two wheat 

 regions and for the most part are under private control, there was a 

 very evident difference between the open-range and the fenced areas. 

 In that part of the high plateau between the Columbia Hive/ and the 

 Grand Coulee which we visited there was excellent feed, owing to the 

 recent invasion of that portion of the country by the wheat grower 

 and the inaccessibility of the remaining range to the general rangre 

 herds. The grasses here are practically the same as those on the Col- 

 ville Reservation. Here, however, there is but little shrubbery, the 

 area being a rolling table-land, covered with a luxuriant growth of 

 bunch wheat grass, Nevada and AVheeler's bluegrasses, sheep fescue, 

 and prairie dune grass. In places there was some black sage {Arte- 

 misia tridentata) and rayless golden-rod ( Bigelovia <//-<tr, olt ns) scattered 

 over the lower areas and sides of ravines, but the sagebrush was not 



2597i— No. 38—03 2 



