Managing pinyon-juniper woodlands

Abstract

A renewed interest in pinyon-juniper woodlands has accelerated debate regarding management of this unique ecosystem. Should these woodlands be managed only to provide livestock forage through overstory removal-popular programs in the 1950s and 1960s-or should they be managed for production of multiple resource products and amenities? Pinyon-juniper woodlands have varying capabilities of producing fuelwood, wildlife habitat, forage for livestock, watershed protection, and other products such as pinyon nuts (Figure 1). In addition to these more traditional resources, we must now consider increasing recreational demands, increased human development, impacts of management for threatened, endangered, and sensitive plant and animal species, and protection of archeological sites.

Citation

Gottfried, Gerald J.; Severson, Kieth E. 1994. Managing pinyon-juniper woodlands. Rangelands. 16(6): 234-236