© Pete Saloutos/Panoramic Images (Washington Title Image Large)
Moses Coulee
Private and public landowners are working together in this shrub-steppe ecosystem to develop watershed and habitat conservation plans, to control weeds and fire, and to protect and restore the natural communities that provide homes to a rich variety of wildlife. These partners are also cooperating to provide areas where the public can experience the beauty of the shrub-steppe, learn more about its natural and cultural history, and help in its restoration.
With its Ice Age floodcarved, steep-walled coulees, its pothole lakes, dunes, haystack boulders, waterfalls and scablands—this area is home to a rich and fragile mosaic of rare living things. Between the shrubs and grasses grow a profusion of wildflowers, including sulfur lupine and the vibrant bitterroot, long a favorite food harvested by native peoples.
