Palomino Playa RNA

Palomino Playa Research Natural Area (RNA) was established to represent  Davis' peppergrass (Lepidium davisii), a special status perennial plant on clay soil playas in the Owyhee Uplands of Oregon and Idaho. The RNA’s dry lakebed is divided by a rocky finger and has shrink-swell clays that hold water through winter and spring. The upland soils are shallow loams over basalt and are dominated by a shadscale saltbush-greasewood (Atriplex canescens/Sarcobatus vermiculatus) community at the lowest elevations, followed by Wyoming big sagebrush-greasewood (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis/Sarcobatus vermiculatus) at slightly higher elevations. Shadscale saltbush/greasewood/sagebrush communities and bottlebrush squirreltail (Elymus elymoides) are also present.