Lifeline Historical Marker | Wyoming History

The arid basins and prairies of Wyoming lie in the rainshadows of our great mountain ranges. The shortgrass prairie of eastern Wyoming and Colorado are all that is left of this native grassland type. Buffalo grass and grama grasses typify the shortgrass prairie. The shortgrasses grow on the arid, wind blown prairies of the Rocky Mountain front.

Water on the shortgrass prairie is limited to a few potholes filled from early snow melt, holding water in early summer. Man has pumped water, using windmills, creating summer long water for livestock and wildlife. Some of the buttes in the area also provide spring and seep water.

The life line for wildlife on the prairies, however, are the rivers, like the Belle Fourche, providing water year-long. The winding Belle Fourche bisects a myriad of coulees and breaks and places water within daily travelling distance of large numbers of wildlife. Large cottonwoods and lush vegetation grow near the banks of the river, providing food and shelter for the pronghorn antelope, jackrabbits, sage grouse, mule deer and other wildlife that live on the shortgrass prairie.

Water, especially in arid areas, is an essential element in maintaining Wyoming’s abundance and diversity of wildlife.