Abstract
While walking through endless xeric shrublands in the Great Basin or far-western Great Plains many people may think they are stark, barren and devoid of water. John Wesley Powell, an early director of the U.S. Geological Survey, pointed out in an important 1878 government study that the defining characteristic of the Great Plains and the West was its lack of water and stated that much of the area would be uninhabitable without extensive systems of irrigation. The region is in the rain shadow of the North American Cordillera. To the north the area is typical cold desert –only 200-300 mm of annual precipitation with long, cold winters and short, hot summers; to the south long, protracted drought periods may be punctuated by rain events from the Pacific Ocean.
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