Plants

Prairie goldenpea and yucca
Yucca and Prairie Goldenpea

NPS photo

Four hundred fifty-two species, subspecies, and varieties of vascular plants have been identified at Scotts Bluff National Monument. The vegetation is divided into three major plant associations:

  1. the moderately dense mixed-grass prairie,
  2. the ponderosa pine/Rocky Mountain juniper/eastern red cedar forests, and
  3. the hardwood association along the floodplain of the North Platte River

Within these plant associations can be further found seven major habitat types: riverine woodland, coniferous woodland, mixed-grass prairie, riparian habitat associated with irrigation canals, pine-studded bluffs, shrub-dominated slopes, and badlands.

In 1995 twenty vegetation "mapping classes" were identified within the boundaries of the Monument in accordance with the Federal Geographic Data Committee's National Vegetation Classification Standard. A vegetation map was produced from this research. The mixed-grass prairie is the predominant vegetative cover of the Monument.

 

Common Scotts Bluff Plants

 
Grasses are seen waving in the wind in front of a distinctive sandstone formation.
Common Grasses of Scotts Bluff

Learn about some of the approximately 85 grasses and sedges that are found on the prairie of Scotts Bluff National Monument.

Last updated: November 8, 2021

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Gering, NE 69341

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