Of the six Wyoming relict sites with historic vegetation data, three lie in Hot Springs County. In the summer of 1997, the University of Wyoming team located and photographed the sites, conducted vegetative line transects, measured shrub density, collected soil samples, and recorded comparable data on two nearby bison pastures in Hot Springs State Park. The vegetation on each relic site was dominated by bluebunch wheatgrass and threadleaf sedge with some big sagebrush. On all three relics, the primary change noted since Fisser's 1964 study was the invasion of downy brome, or cheatgrass. The edge of one relic was invaded by the noxious weed, leafy spurge. Each relict site had about half the density of young sagebrush as did the pastures. Both relicts had higher cover of native grasses than did the bison pastures. The three relict sites studied now have a record of baseline data that will be valuable for future comparisons. Other sites around Wyoming are slated for assessment in coming years.
Citations and enhanced abstracts for journals articles and documents focused on rangeland ecology and management. RSIS is a collaboration between Montana State University, University of Idaho, and University of Wyoming.