POTD January 29, 2014: Uinta Basin, Uintah County, Utah

Uinta Basin, Uintah County, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg

The exceedingly rare Graham’s penstemon grows exclusively on the sparsely vegetated outcrops of Green River Formation oil shale deposits and can be found only in the Uinta Basin of Utah and the Piceance Creek Basin in Colorado. Federal protection for this scarce plant could be forthcoming as petroleum development becomes more prevalent in the basin.