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Townsend Basin

Ecoregion in Rocky Mountains, MT

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The broad, semiarid, largely treeless Townsend Basin lies east of the Continental Divide and contains floodplains, stream terraces, alluvial fans, and hills. It is mostly composed of Quaternary alluvium and Tertiary valley fill unlike the more rugged Townsend- Horseshoe-London Sedimentary Hills (17y), Dry Gneissic-Schistose-Volcanic Hills (17ab), Northern Rockies (15), and Middle Rockies (17). Elevations tend to be lower and the growing season longer than in the Shield-Smith Valleys (43t) or the surrounding mountains. Ecoregion 17w’s climate is drier than the valleys west of the Continental Divide but wetter than the Dry Intermontane Sagebrush Valleys (17aa) to the southwest. Potential natural vegetation consists of foothills prairie and grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass; it differs from the forests of Ecoregions 15 and 17 and the sagebrush steppe of Ecoregions 17aa, 17ab, and 43t. Today, cropland, rangeland, and urban-suburban-industrial development occur.

— EPA

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