The myth of water use by junipers in central Texas

Tom Dunlap

Tom Dunlap

Here from the beginning
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Retired in Minneapolis
Live oaks use more water than Ashe junipers according to Texas A&M research. There is a long told myth that junipers dry out the land.

More and more scientific research is showing this not to be true. The anecdotal evidence has been retold and had been taken as the truth. This has justified the cutting and grinding of junipers.

Live oak and juniper water use
 
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Live oaks use more water than Ashe junipers according to Texas A&M research. There is a long told myth that junipers dry out the land.

More and more scientific research is showing this not to be true. The anecdotal evidence has been retold and had been taken as the truth. This has justified the cutting and grinding of junipers.

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And it also gave a certain former president a photo op, wielding his mighty chainsaw scepter like Mjolnir against the invading heathen arbordemons. He kept America safe from their secret water-stealing weapons of mass grazeland dessication, yurrite.

Wasn't be the first time someone waged war based on lousy and unscientific "science". No political spin applied or intended.
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Hey Tom,
Look into the idea of the canopy of juniper, especially when it is dense holding on to much more water, not letting hit the ground. In lighter rains sometimes almost no water will get to the ground in a thick Juniper break.The majority of this water will evaporate before it gets used by either tree. Before wildfire suppression the Hill County of Texas was on about a 5-7 year burn cycle keeping juniper at healthy levels.

It is sad that there is a "War on" with juniper. Yes there is too much. But most landowners treat it like a disease. The result most of the time is landowners bulldoze all the juniper, including cutting it out of creeks and low areas, creating a monoculture of Live oak. And we wonder why Oakwilt is so bad in our area??

I also like the idea of Juniper as a band aid from years of overgrazing. When you dig around under a mature juniper there is usually four to six inches of densely packed organic material building up around them.
 
thanks for your hands on insight Paul. Even though I'm a new in the area I know that land management issues are complex.

The worst invasive species list would include:

Non-native humans
Cattle
Turf grass
 
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The worst invasive species list would include:

Non-native humans
Cattle
Turf grass

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B and C are just byproducts or collateral damage from A.
 
The idea of killing off all the juniper actually goes hand in hand with the overgrazing issue. Most ranchers wanted to improve grasslands by killing off juniper to provide more grass there by killing off one of the most important trees that contributed to soil rebuilding. Now with the modern hobby ranch most people think of juniper as a bain on the land. Historically the hill country juniper was in smaller patches and found mostly along streams, creeks and bottom lands with grass covering hillsides and live oak mots on the hilltops.
One thing the article doesnt mention is how they measured the infiltration and uptake. Did they measure tree for tree because in most cases juniper growing unchecked will create a monoculture all its own.
Many of the articles I have read and most biologist I work worth have shown that improving native grasslands has a direct positive effect on creeks and springs in our area. I have seen before and after test where dye is put into carst features and caves that feed our aquifer and whenever grasslands are improved that dye moves quicker through the aquifer.
Where is Oakwilt when you need him. I would love to here his take on this.
 
Not trying to derail but this has me thinking about the Arborist role in habitat manipulation and restoration. I have moved away from tree care as my main profession and more into habitat restoration and invasive removal.
I there a place for us to be respected in this field? Or does it require published papers and PHD's to have a viable opinion?
One of the most undereducated (in a scholarly sense)and wisest men I ever met (and a friend of Oakwilts) once told me "Theirs only one PHD you need in life and that a Post Hole Digger."
 
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The worst invasive species list would include:

Non-native humans
Cattle
Turf grass

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-reminds me of my favorite heavy metal song "Manditory Suicide". Just skipping towards extinction...

I lived near Silver City New Mexico and there were many opinions of the Juniper trees. Ranch country.

-thanks for the interesting post.
 
Maybe we have different junipers here in Oregon. A recent program on PBS showed a property that has been studying junipers since 1976. Their report is that junipers take up a lot of water.

http://news.opb.org/article/cutting-down-desert-junipers-save-precious-water/

We have a 35' juniper in our yard. The ground underneath is the last to get wet (of all the trees) when it's raining. I lived in Juniper City, USA (Reno, NV) for 20 years and learned to dislike junipers after install/repairing irrigation systems in their amazing root network, plus endless trimming as they overtook everything.

I like junipers much more now, especially since I don't have to work around them. Of course, up here we have Himalayan blackberries and English Ivy. Let's put 'em up against the junipers and see who'd win!
 
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does it require published papers and PHD's to have a viable opinion?

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skip the PhD, but don't skip writing. You don't need a GED to get published in trademags. And yes getting published is the best way to share what you do and a good way to get credibility with clients etc.

Whether or not your opinion is viable depends on you.
cool.gif
 
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And for A, there are no native Humans.

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Maybe a better term would be indigenous...colonist...land exploiter...you get my drift

Before Oakwilt moved I spent a couple of weekends with him. We talked about the Ash Juniper issue a lot. His talk was parallel to Paul's...return the land to grassland form better water quality.

Managing invasive species is a complex issue of course.
 
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