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Ecosystems of the North American Great Plains are disturbance dependent. Both herbaceous and woody plant communities are dominated by species well adapted to frequent fire and grazing. Large sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) dominated communities, often noted for being fire intolerant, exist within the matrix of fire adapted plants within the Great Plains. The majority of sagebrush dominated communities in the western United States typically experience infrequent fire (>50 year fire return interval), but Northern Great Plains sagebrush communities can burn as frequently as every 10-20 years. Our objective was to evaluate fire effects on species composition in sagebrush communities both at a landscape and fine scale, within different grazing treatments on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in central Montana. Three grazing exclosures, situated in mixed-grass prairie and Artemisia spp. communities, restricted grazing in two grazing treatments, native ungulates and cattle, or cattle only. The non-exclosed area was utilized as a third grazing treatment. All grazing treatments were treated with prescribed fire such that a portion of the unit was burned and a portion was non-burned. Additionally, we burned 21 2x2-m plots for fine-scale plant community measurements. Pre-burn species composition and shrub abundance were recorded in early summer 2010 and again post-burn in 2011. Additionally, percent of area burned was estimated in the exclosures. Overall plant species composition remained unchanged following fire in all grazing treatments and small plots. An exception was big sagebrush, where mortality was 100% when exposed to fire. However, percent area burned (88, 75 and 55%) differed between the no-grazing, cattle-excluded and extant-grazing treatments respectively. Fire sensitive plants exist in fire-prone landscapes largely by occupying non-burned locals. Soil type and topographical features can provide fire refugia. Further, herbivory can alter fuel continuity and create temporary fire breaks minimizing landscape fire spread and providing plant community heterogeneity.