Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:53:00.311Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Managing Native Invasive Juniper Species Using Fire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

R. James Ansley*
Affiliation:
Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Vernon, TX 76384; Texas A&M University at Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363
G. Allen Rasmussen
Affiliation:
Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Vernon, TX 76384; Texas A&M University at Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: r-ansley@tamu.edu

Abstract

Junipers (Juniperus spp.) are native woody shrubs that have expanded beyond their normal historical ranges in the western and southwestern United States since the late 1800s. Most ecologists and resource managers agree that juniper has become a deleterious native invasive plant that threatens other vegetation ecosystems, such as grasslands, through a steady encroachment and ultimate domination. The use of fire in managing junipers is based on a management goal to increase the disturbance return interval and thereby reduce the abundance and/or competitive impact of juniper in an ecosystem. In this paper, we discuss rates of juniper encroachment in relation to presettlement fire regimes, juniper encroachment and soil health, postfire vegetation responses, and long-term potential of different juniper treatment scenarios that involve prescribed fire.

Type
Symposium
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Ansley, R. J., Pinchak, W. E., and Ueckert, D. N. 1995. Changes in redberry juniper distribution in northwest Texas. Rangelands 17:4953.Google Scholar
Barney, M. A. and Frischknecht, N. C. 1974. Vegetation changes following fire in the pinyon-juniper type of west-central Utah. J. Range Manage. 27:9196.Google Scholar
Belsky, A. J. 1996. Viewpoint: western juniper expansion: is it a threat to arid northwestern ecosystems? J. Range Manage. 49:5359.Google Scholar
Bragg, T. B. and Hulbert, L. C. 1976. Woody plant invasion of unburned Kansas bluestem prairie. J. Range Manage. 29:1924.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, M. L. and Pyke, D. A. 2001. Invasive plants and fire in the deserts of North America. in Galley, K.E.M. and Wilson, T. P., eds. Proceedings of the Invasive Species Workshop: The Role of Fire in the Control and Spread of Invasive Species. Fire Conference 2000: The First National Congress on Fire Ecology, Prevention and Management. Miscellaneous Publ. 11. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station. Pp. 1530.Google Scholar
Burkhardt, J. W. and Tisdale, E. W. 1976. Causes of juniper invasion in southwestern Idaho. Ecology 57:472484.Google Scholar
Davenport, D. W., Breshears, D. D., Wilcox, B. P., and Allen, C. D. 1998. Viewpoint: sustainability of pinyon-juniper ecosystems—a unifying perspective of soil erosion thresholds. J. Range Manage. 51:231240.Google Scholar
Dye, K. L. II, Ueckert, D. N., and Whisenant, S. G. 1995. Redberry juniper-herbaceous understory interactions. J. Range Manage. 48:100107.Google Scholar
Everett, R. L. and Ward, K. 1984. Early plant succession on pinyon-juniper controlled burns. Northwest Sci. 58:5768.Google Scholar
Frost, C. C. 1998. Presettlement fire frequency regimes of the United States: a first approximation. in Prudan, T. L. and Brennan, L. A., eds. Tallahassee, FL: Proceedings of the 20th Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference. Pp. 7081.Google Scholar
Gehring, J. L. and Bragg, T. B. 1992. Changes in prairie vegetation under eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) in an eastern Nebraska bluestem prairie. Am. Midl. Nat. 128:209217.Google Scholar
Johnson, T. N. 1962. One-seed juniper invasion of northern Arizona grasslands. Ecol. Monogr. 32:187207.Google Scholar
Koniak, S. 1985. Succession in pinyon-juniper woodlands following wildfire in the Great Basin. Great Basin Nat. 45:556566.Google Scholar
Maser, C. and Gashwiler, J. S. 1978. Interrelationships of wildlife and western juniper. in Western Juniper Ecology and Management Workshop. USDA Forestry Series General Technical Rep. PNW-74. Pp. 3782.Google Scholar
McNeill, A. 2000. Burn baby burn. The Cattleman Magazine February: 5664.Google Scholar
McPherson, G. R. and Wright, H. A. 1990. Effects of cattle grazing and Juniperus pinchotii canopy cover on herb cover and production in western Texas. Am. Midl. Nat. 123:144151.Google Scholar
Miller, R. F., Svejcar, T. J., and Rose, J. A. 2000. Impacts of western juniper on plant community composition and structure. J. Range Manage. 53:574585.Google Scholar
Miller, R. F. and Tausch, R. J. 2001. The role of fire in juniper and pinyon woodlands: a descriptive analysis. in Galley, K.E.M. and Wilson, T. P. (eds.) Proceedings of the Invasive Species Workshop: The Role of Fire in the Control and Spread of Invasive Species. Fire conference 2000: The First National Congress on Fire Ecology, Prevention and Management. Miscellaneous Publ. 11. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station. Pp. 1530.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, G. A., Bunting, S., and Tausch, R. 1998. Use of the Helitorch to Enhance Plant Diversity in Mature Pinyon-Juniper Communities: A Conceptual Approach. Pinyon-Juniper Ecology Conference, September 16, 1997. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, G. A., McPherson, G. R., and Wright, H. A. 1986. Prescribed burning juniper communities in Texas. Range Wildlife Management Note 10. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, G. A. and Wright, H. A. 1989. Succession of secondary shrubs on Ashe juniper communities after dozing and prescribed burning. J. Range Manage. 42:271273.Google Scholar
Rippel, P., Pieper, R. D., and Lymbery, G. A. 1983. Vegetational evaluation of pinyon-juniper cabling in south-central New Mexico. J. Range Manage. 36:1315.Google Scholar
Short, H. L. and McCulloch, C. Y. 1977. Managing pinyon-juniper ranges for wildlife. USDA. USDA Forestry Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station General Technical Rep. RM-47.Google Scholar
Smeins, F. E. 1983. Origin of the brush problem—a geological and ecological perspective of contemporary distributions. in McDaniel, K. C., ed. Proceedings of the Brush Management Symposium. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech Press. Pp. 516.Google Scholar
Smith, M. K., Wright, H. A., and Schuster, J. L. 1975. Reproductive characteristics of redberry juniper. J. Range Manage. 28:126128.Google Scholar
Tausch, R. J. and Tueller, P. T. 1977. Plant succession following chaining of pinyon-juniper woodlands in eastern Nevada. J. Range Manage. 30:4449.Google Scholar
Tausch, R. J., West, N. E., and Nabi, A. A. 1981. Tree age and dominance patterns in Great Basin pinyon-juniper woodlands. J. Range Manage. 34:259264.Google Scholar
Tausch, R. J., Wigand, P. E., and Burkhardt, J. W. 1993. Viewpoint: plant community thresholds, multiple steady states, and multiple successional pathways: legacy of the Quaternary. J. Range Manage. 46:439447.Google Scholar
Tiedemann, A. R. 1987. Nutrient accumulations in pinyon-juniper ecosystems—managing for future site productivity. in Everett, R. L., compiler. Proceedings: Pinyon-Juniper conference, USDA Forestry Service Intermountain Research Station General Technical Rep. INT-215. Pp. 352359.Google Scholar
Wiedemann, H. T. and Cross, B. T. 1996. Draft requirements to fell junipers. J. Range Manage. 49:174178.Google Scholar
Wright, H. A. and Bailey, A. W. 1982. Fire Ecology: United States and Southern Canada. New York: J. Wiley.Google Scholar