Thirty-five years ago, Stephen Trimble wrote a book called The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin. Today, he says, a book about the same place might be titled The Cheatgrass Ocean: An Unnatural History of the Great Basin, as the highly flammable weed expands across the deserts of Nevada and Utah. Add a second encroachment of piñon and juniper trees, and sagebrush is in danger of disappearing. The dilemma is how to hold onto and add to the sagebrush that's left.
Writers on the Range: A terrible dilemma faces the Great Basin
![](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ba1812d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1685+0+0/resize/880x494!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2F9d%2F489be32f416aa0c091f2710d7129%2Funnamed-16.jpg)
Stephen Trimble