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According to mammalogists, anthropologists, historians, and newspaper accounts, white-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus townsendii) were once an important faunal component of mid-to upper elevation sagebrush-grass communities and meadows in northern and central Nevada. Some of these same accounts attribute the decline of this species to heavy grazing that occurred from the 1870s through the early to mid-20th century. Before Euro-American settlement, indigenous groups in some areas of the Great Basin used white-tailed jackrabbits extensively as a source of food and fiber. Throughout the West, there has been a gradual but marked reduction in the range of this species in areas where habitats have changed to favor black-tailed jackrabbits (L. californicus), a closely related species with a stronger shrub affinity. Where the two species occur sympatrically, white-tails typically use areas that are grass-dominated and/or higher in elevation than the shrub-dominated valley floors frequented by black-tails. In recent years, the authors have observed white-tailed jackrabbits moving into areas in northern Nevada that became dominated by native perennial grasses after wildfire, apparently expanding into these areas from remnant nucleus populations. However, similar fire-recovered areas in central Nevada that held white-tails historically have not apparently had colonization by this species, ostensibly due to the absence of nucleus populations. Because the perennial grass component to which white-tails are adapted is the cornerstone of sagebrush-grass community resilience, the presence of this species may be an indicator of ecological integrity and functionality, especially at mid- to upper elevations (for primarily mountain big sagebrush communities). As the perennial grass component ebbs and flows proportionately through plant succession, the abundance of white-tails, irrespective of cyclic population irruptions, may follow this same pattern. The authors will review the history of this species across its previous and current range in Nevada and overview proposed research to test this hypothesis.