Distribution

Species: Silver sagebrush is widely distributed across western North America. It occurs from southern British Columbia east to southwestern Manitoba and south to Minnesota, Nebraska, northern New Mexico and Arizona, and southern California [71,92]. Distributed over 53,221 mi2 (137,800 km2) of the western United States, it is 2nd only to big sagebrush in total area occupied by a sagebrush species [12,13]. Silver sagebrush is most common in the northern Great Plains, Rocky Mountain, and Intermountain regions [198]. It is relatively uncommon in the Great Basin [126]. It is rare in Utah, British Columbia, and Manitoba, and absent from Washington [38,92].  Plants database provides maps showing the overall distribution of silver sagebrush and distributions of the subspecies.

Subspecies: Bolander silver sagebrush occurs from north-central Oregon, where it occurs in montane meadows of the Ochoco and Blue mountains and on the eastern slope of the Cascade Range [37], south through mountainous regions and the eastern edge of the Great Basin to Inyo and Tulare counties, California, and east to Humboldt and Washoe counties, Nevada. Bolander silver sagebrush populations are disjunct from the other 2 subspecies [30,71,92,93,112,126].

Plains silver sagebrush occurs from southern British Columbia east to southwestern Manitoba and south to western Nebraska, eastern Colorado, central Wyoming, and south-central Montana [71,92,190]. Most common east of the Continental Divide, it is widely distributed in the northern Great Plains. Common in Saskatchewan, it becomes increasingly sparse to the south except along watercourses and bottomlands, where it may be locally abundant  [90,112]. Distributions of plains and mountain silver sagebrush overlap in eastern Idaho, western Montana, across Wyoming, and in north-central Colorado. Outlying populations occur in west-central Colorado and the eastern Dakotas [71].

Mountain silver sagebrush is most common west of the Continental Divide. It is distributed from central Idaho and western Montana east to central Colorado, south to northeastern New Mexico and north-central Arizona, and west to central Nevada and eastern Oregon [71,92,112,126,190].