Great Plains Sparsely-Vegetated Badlands
Global Name:
Great Plains Badlands Vegetation
Global Rank:
G4G5
State Rank:
S5
(see reason below)
External Links
State Rank Reason
These non-vegetated or sparsely-vegetated habitats are relatively common and widespread in parts of eastern MT. They are generally stable and lack significant threats that are widespread in scope and severity.
General Description
This National Vegetation Classification Group encompasses Great Plains Badlands. These sites are typically sparsely vegetated (<10% total vegetation cover) and easily recognized by the rugged, eroded, and often colorful land formations, and the relative absence of vegetative cover. The sloping, eroding sites, lack of soil development, and lack of available moisture for plants limit the species that can grow on these sites. Small areas with shallower slopes may have moderate vegetation cover. Dominant plants are usually low shrubs and forbs, though grasses can dominate some areas. This group generally occurs within the mixedgrass prairie and sand prairie communities of eastern Montana.
This group encompasses the Great Plains Badlands and the Shale Badland Ecological Systems.
Diagnostic Characteristics
Highly Eroded Landforms; Sparsely-Vegetated with <10% Vegetated Cover; Poorly Developed Soils; Great Plains Region
Similar Systems
Range
This group is scattered throughout the Great Plains region of eastern Montana where eroded landscapes limit the ability of vegetation to thrive. This group is well represented in Makoshika State Park near Glendive, in the Terry Badlands north of the Yellowstone River, and at scattered locations along tributaries of the Missouri river in the northwestern Great Plains.
In Montana, G566 occurs in Level III Ecoregions 42 (Northwestern Glaciated Plains) and 43 (Northwestern Great Plains).
In MT, G566 occurs in these Major Land Resource Areas: 52-Brown Glaciated Plains, 53A-Northern Dark Brown Glaciated Plains, 58A,B,C,D-Northern Rolling High Plains, and 60B - Pierre Shale Plains.
Density and Distribution
Based on 2025 land cover layer. Grid on map is based on USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle map boundaries.
Mapped Distribution by County
Big Horn, Blaine, Broadwater, Carbon, Carter, Cascade, Chouteau, Custer, Daniels, Dawson, Fallon, Fergus, Gallatin, Garfield, Glacier, Golden Valley, Hill, Judith Basin, Lewis and Clark, Liberty, Mccone, Meagher, Musselshell, Park, Petroleum, Phillips, Pondera, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Roosevelt, Rosebud, Sheridan, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, Teton, Toole, Treasure, Valley, Wheatland, Wibaux, Yellowstone
Based on 2025 land cover layer.
Spatial Pattern
Large Patch
Environment
This group is primarily found on eroded uplands, slopes, and creek bottoms throughout the northwestern Great Plains region of Montana. Soils are extremely dry and easily erodible consolidated clayey soils with bands of sandstone or isolated consolidates. Dominant soil types are in the order Entisols. The steep and deeply eroded slopes of badland habitats tend to be harsh environments, which support only species uniquely adapted to these conditions (Brown 1971). The sedimentary parent material of exposed rocks and the resultant eroded clay soils are derived from Cretaceous sea beds and are often fossil-rich. In these arid to semi-arid climates, infrequent but heavy rains cause rapid erosion, leaving a highly dissected landscape with a complex dendritic drainage pattern. Precipitation in these areas generally ranges from 10 to 19 inches with two-thirds coming during the summer and most of the other third in the spring. The growing season is on average 115 days, although the growing season ranges from 100 days on the Canadian border to 130 days on the Wyoming border.
Vegetation
Vegetation within badland areas is generally sparse, often with less than 10% of the total land cover occupied by vegetation, locally some areas will have higher cover. In northeastern Montana, vegetation cover is at the higher end, but in southeastern Montana, portions of this group may have little to no vegetation. Local variations in geology, topography, and soil contribute to unique plant communities and vegetation composition (Brown 1971). Common plant communities include those dominated or with significant components of Greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus), Gardner’s saltbush (Atriplex gardneri), Small-flowered Buckwheat (Eriogonum pauciflorum) - Broom Snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae) or Longleaf Wormwood (Artemisia longifolia).
Graminoid cover is very sparse, but may include Western Wheatgrass (Elymus smithii), Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Elymus spicatus), and Indian Ricegrass (Oryzopsis hymenoides). Common forbs include Small-flowered Buckwheat (Eriogonum pauciflorum), Broom Snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae), Hooker’s sandwort (Arenaria hookeri), budsage (Artemisia spinescens), curlycup gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa), and Nutall’s povertyweed (Monolepis nuttalliana). Other shrubs that may be present include Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis), silver sagebrush (Artemisia cana), Rubber Rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa), and shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia).
In Montana, this group is represented by 4 Alliances and 6 Associations within the National Vegetation Classification, which likely represents most of the diversity of these sparsely-vegetated sites, though additional types may exist.
National Vegetation Classification
Download the complete NVC hierarchy for Montana
TT4 B04 Temperate-Boreal Grassland and Shrubland
TT4.b S58 Temperate Grassland and Shrubland
TT4.b1 F116 Temperate Lowland-Montane Grassland and Shrubland
TT4.b1.Nf D023 Central North American Grassland and Shrubland
TT4.b1.Nf.7 M115 Great Plains Badlands
TT4.b1.Nf.7.a G566 Great Plains Badlands
A1874 Artemisia longifolia Badlands Alliance
A2301 Artemisia pedatifida - Atriplex gardneri / Pascopyrum smithii Badlands Dwarf-shrubland Alliance
A2445 Artemisia spp. - Atriplex spp. - Ericameria nauseosa / Gutierrezia sarothrae Badlands Alliance
CEGL000993 Artemisia tridentata - Atriplex confertifolia Shrubland
CEGL001367 Sarcobatus vermiculatus / Pseudoroegneria spicata Shrubland
CEGL001443 Atriplex gardneri / Monolepis nuttalliana Dwarf-shrubland
CEGL001521 Artemisia longifolia - Calamovilfa longifolia Sparse Vegetation
CEGL002195 Artemisia longifolia Badlands Sparse Vegetation
CEGL005270 Eriogonum pauciflorum - Gutierrezia sarothrae Badlands Sparse Vegetation
A3978 Sarcobatus vermiculatus Great Plains Badlands Alliance
A3979 Eriogonum pauciflorum - Gutierrezia sarothrae Badlands Alliance
*Disclaimer: Some Alliances and Associations are considered provisional. Some require further documentation to verify their occurrence in the state
and some may be modified or deleted in future revisions after collection of additional data and information.
Dynamic Processes
This group can occur where the land lies well above its local base level or below and is created by several factors, including elevation, rainfall, carving action of streams, and parent material. Vegetation communities associated with this group are adapted to soils that are dry throughout the growing season. Typically soils of the badlands ecosystem are easily erodible consolidated clay or sandstone outcrops. They may also occur on shallow entisols, with parent material and/or bedrock formation close to the surface. These highly erodible soils can be strongly influenced by infrequent but heavy rains.
Management
Land use is generally limited in these areas due to the highly erodible, clay soils and sparse vegetation cover. Off-road vehicle use and grazing may impact soils and plant communities. Because of the erodible soils, these areas can be easily damaged by off-road vehicle use. Limiting such use to specified areas may be beneficial for preserving more sensitive communities, such as the Birdsfoot Sagebrush- Gardner’s saltbush (Artemisia pedatifida - Atriplex gardneri) shrubland.
Restoration Considerations
Restricting off-road use and limiting or removing grazing may be necessary where these activities have negatively impacted sensitive resources or vegetation growth.
Species Associated with this Community
- How Lists Were Created and Suggested Uses and Limitations
Animal Species Associations
Please note that while all vertebrate species have been systematically associated with vegetation communities, only a handful of invertebrate species have been associated with vegetation communities and invertebrates lists for each vegetation community should be regarded as incomplete. Animal species associations with natural vegetation communities that they regularly breed or overwinter in or migrate through were made by:
- Using personal observations and reviewing literature that summarize the breeding, overwintering, or migratory habitat requirements of each species (Dobkin 1992, Hart et al. 1998, Hutto and Young 1999, Maxell 2000, Werner et al. 2004, Adams 2003, and Foresman 2012);
- Evaluating structural characteristics and distribution of each vegetation community relative to the species' range and habitat requirements;
- Examining the observation records for each species in the state-wide point observation database associated with each vegetation community;
- Calculating the percentage of observations associated with each vegetation community relative to the percent of Montana covered by each vegetation community to get a measure of "observations versus availability of habitat".
Species that breed in Montana were only evaluated for breeding habitat use. Species that only overwinter in Montana were only evaluated for overwintering habitat use. Species that only migrate through Montana were only evaluated for migratory habitat use. In general, species are listed as associated with a vegetation community if it contains structural characteristics known to be used by the species. However, species are not listed as associated with a vegetation community if we found no support in the literature for the species’ use of structural characteristics of the community even if point observations were associated with it. If you have any questions or comments on animal species associations with vegetation communities, please contact the Montana Natural Heritage Program's Senior Zoologist.
Plant Species Associations
Please note that while diagnostic, dominant, or codominant vascular plant species for a vegetation community have been systematically assigned to those communities and vascular plant Species of Concern were systematically evaluated for their associations with vegetation communities, the majority of Montana’s vascular plant species have not been evaluated for their associations with vegetation communities and no attempt has been made to associate non-vascular plants, fungi, or lichens with vegetation communities. Plant species associations with natural vegetation communities were made in a manner similar to that described above for animals, but with review of Lesica et al. (2022) and specimen collection data from the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria. If you have any questions or comments on plant species associations with vegetation communities, please contact the Montana Natural Heritage Program's Program Botanist.
Suggested Uses and Limitations
Species associations with vegetation communities should be used to generate potential lists of species that may occupy broader landscapes for the purposes of landscape-level planning. These potential lists of species should not be used in place of documented occurrences of species or predicted habitat suitability models (this information can be requested at: https://mtnhp.mt.gov/requests/), or systematic surveys for species and onsite evaluations of habitat by trained biologists. Users of this information should be aware that the land cover data used to generate species associations is based on satellite imagery from 2016 and was only intended to be used at broader landscape scales. Land cover mapping accuracy is particularly problematic when the vegetation communities occur as small patches or where the land cover types have been altered over the past decade. Thus, particular caution should be used when using the associations in assessments of smaller areas (e.g., evaluations of public land survey sections). Finally, although a species may be associated with a particular vegetation community within its known geographic range, portions of that vegetation community may occur outside of the species' known geographic range.
Literature Cited
- Adams, R.A. 2003. Bats of the Rocky Mountain West; natural history, ecology, and conservation. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. 289 p.
- Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria. https://www.pnwherbaria.org/ Last accessed May 30, 2025.
- Dobkin, D. S. 1992. Neotropical migrant land birds in the Northern Rockies and Great Plains. USDA Forest Service, Northern Region. Publication No. R1-93-34. Missoula, MT.
- Foresman, K.R. 2012. Mammals of Montana. Second edition. Mountain Press Publishing, Missoula, Montana. 429 pp.
- Hart, M.M., W.A. Williams, P.C. Thornton, K.P. McLaughlin, C.M. Tobalske, B.A. Maxell, D.P. Hendricks, C.R. Peterson, and R.L. Redmond. 1998. Montana atlas of terrestrial vertebrates. Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, University of Montana, Missoula, MT. 1302 p.
- Hutto, R.L. and J.S. Young. 1999. Habitat relationships of landbirds in the Northern Region, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station RMRS-GTR-32. 72 p.
- Lesica P., M. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of vascular plants, 2nd Edition. Brit Press. 779 p.
- Maxell, B.A. 2000. Management of Montana's amphibians: a review of factors that may present a risk to population viability and accounts on the identification, distribution, taxonomy, habitat use, natural history, and the status and conservation of individual species. Report to U.S. Forest Service Region 1. Missoula, MT: Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana. 161 p.
- Werner, J.K., B.A. Maxell, P. Hendricks, and D. Flath. 2004. Amphibians and reptiles of Montana. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company. 262 p.
- Species of Concern Associated with this Community
Vascular Plants
Mammals
Birds
Reptiles
Amphibians
Invertebrates
- Other Native Species Commonly Associated with this Community
Vascular Plants
Original Concept Authors
J. Drake 2011
Montana Version Authors
S. Mincemoyer, E. Luther, L. Vance
Version Date
12/5/2024
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication- Brown, R.W. 1971. Distribution of plant communities in southeastern Montana badlands. The American Midland Naturalist. 85(2): 458-477.
- Web Search Engines for Articles on "Great Plains Badlands Vegetation"
