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Another View: Thinning of junipers helps the ecosystem

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 5, 2008 at 6:11 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

If you stand at the base of a juniper tree, you’ll notice that nothing grows around it. The tree’s extensive root system monopolizes all available water. There’s been an explosion of junipers across northeastern California, harming other native plants and animals. That’s why I was disappointed by The Bee’s front-page story and photos, which made an innovative restoration program look like a tree-destroying rampage.

The sage steppe ecosystem restoration effort is one of the most proactive, collaborative projects California has seen, as multiple government agencies coordinated with private landowners to restore the ecosystem.

The high-desert, sage steppe ecosystem depends on a balanced diversity of plants and animals. There are many good reasons to remove certain stands of junipers to restore that balance and diversity.

For example, juniper trees consume about 50 gallons of water a day. Thinning these trees makes more water available to an ecosystem that desperately needs it. Endangered suckerfish and salmon benefit from increased flows in streams and lakes. Rangelands benefit as more water becomes available for native grasses, forbs and sagebrush. I have seen projects on private ground where juniper removal allows native grasses to re-grow and meadows to expand.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

October 5, 2008 · Filed Under Environment & Water

Comments

One Response to “Another View: Thinning of junipers helps the ecosystem”

Ray Walker on October 5th, 2008 1:37 pm

One acre foot of water is 325,900 gallons or 0.5 cubic feet per second flowing for 24 hours.

Assuming 50 gallons per day are consumed by each juniper, it would be necessary to destroy 6500 trees to provide the 1/2 cubic foot of water each day.

If the juniper tree is destroyed, it is not likely that any of the water that the phyreatophyte historically consumed would reach any stream source unless the tree was within a couple hundred feet of the live stream.

At least this exercise in mathmatics points out the signficance of a truly new fresh water Source which has been offered to CA for investigation which will yield a million acre feet a year ( 325,900,000,000 gallons).

Development of the Source will be environmentally acceptable, economically feasible, legal and will not damage the water rights of anyone, anywhere.

“Californication” is the continued ignoring by California such a vast natural resource.

Ray Walker ( Retired Water Rights Analyst) waterrdw@yahoo.com

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