Upper Feather River Watershed

Monitoring hydrological changes related to Western juniper removal: A paired watershed approach

Since 1934, western juniper has increased its hold on eastern Oregon rangelands. U.S. Forest Service reports that juniper acreage has increased from 1.5 million acres to over 6 million acres in 1999. Previous studies have shown that water use by juniper can exceed 30 gallons per day when adequate soil moisture is present. Increased juniper dominance has been implicated in the desertification of Oregon’s rangelands. Groundwater mitigation, reintroduction of steelhead into the upper Deschutes River basin, and changes in laws affecting surface water right allocations have driven public policy to look at how water is currently being used and how changes in water use (water law) could affect water availability. Vegetative modeling has shown that 9 to 35 trees per acre are enough to utilize all the precipitation delivered to a site in a 13-in annual precipitation zone. Earlier studies suggest that a minimum of 17 in of annual precipitation is required to measure a water yield response associated with vegetative manipulation. (continued).

Deboodt, T.L.. et. al. 2008. The Third Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds, 8-11 September. Estes Park, CO

Global or not applicable

Restoration, Water Yield, Watershed

Document

Pax

Send a message the owner of this resource