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Cutting down big water users
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| Jerry Scanlan, left, stands by the stump of a juniper tree he had cleared on his 10,500-plus acre ranch that straddles the California-Oregon border. Dave Ross, acting sup-ervisor of the Klamath Basin Ecosystem Restoration Office, takes a look at the project his office helped fund. Scanlan isn't clearing all the juniper trees on his ranch. Workers are taking junipers out of meadows and off hillsides, while they are leaving them on rocky rims where the plants normally grown. The strips of juniper provide highways for wildlife moving from one watering hole to the next. |
Published June 17, 2003
Restoration project works toward juniper reduction
By DYLAN DARLING
H&N Staff Writer
Juniper is a thirsty tree.
The average juniper tree drinks up 40 to 60 gallons of water per day. Clusters of the trees on hillsides around the Klamath Basin soak up precious groundwater and snow and rain runoff that could be going into streams and creeks that flow into the Klamath River and other waterways.
Jerald Scanlan, who ranches 14,000 acres of rangeland that straddle the California-Oregon border just outside of Malin, is determined to do something about the juniper.
In the past four years he and his wife, Judith, have had 1 million juniper trees cleared off their land with financial help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
In particular, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Ecosystem Restoration Office in Klamath Falls helped Scanlan pay for native grass seed to spread after the juniper was cleared and for water pumps, spring development, and fences around ponds that have had a resurgence with the removal of the juniper.
Dave Ross, acting supervisor of the ecosystem restoration office, said the juniper removal is just one example of a project aided by the office. Other types of projects include streambank stabilization, wetland restoration and erosion control.
The Ecosystem Restoration Office is now accepting applications for projects for next year. Applications are due Aug. 1.
Ross said most of the projects that win funding are focused on improving habitat for endangered suckers that live in Upper Klamath Lake and the rivers and streams that flow into it. While the juniper stands may seem to be a long way from sucker habitat, there is a connection.
"The juniper up on those hills does relate in the grand scheme of things to suckers," he said.
By removing the junipers, more water springs up from the ground, providing water for wildlife and livestock, which improves the overall ecosystem of the Klamath Basin.
Scanlan said the junipers, whose numbers and distribution used to be controlled by wildfires, are now bordering on being a noxious plant.
"They totally dominate the water supply and kill everything else," he said.
To clear the juniper Scanlan has made deals with wood chip companies to have them come in and cut the trees, chip them on site and then ship them to biomass incinerators as far away as Susanville and White City. There the chips fuel power generation facilities.
He said it's an expensive, time-consuming project that he couldn't do without the help of the federal and state agencies.
"We are trying to correct in 10 years what took 100 years to develop," he said. "We could not do this without them."
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
Restoration project works toward juniper reduction
By DYLAN DARLING
H&N Staff Writer
Juniper is a thirsty tree.
The average juniper tree drinks up 40 to 60 gallons of water per day. Clusters of the trees on hillsides around the Klamath Basin soak up precious groundwater and snow and rain runoff that could be going into streams and creeks that flow into the Klamath River and other waterways.
Jerald Scanlan, who ranches 14,000 acres of rangeland that straddle the California-Oregon border just outside of Malin, is determined to do something about the juniper.
In the past four years he and his wife, Judith, have had 1 million juniper trees cleared off their land with financial help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
In particular, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Ecosystem Restoration Office in Klamath Falls helped Scanlan pay for native grass seed to spread after the juniper was cleared and for water pumps, spring development, and fences around ponds that have had a resurgence with the removal of the juniper.
Dave Ross, acting supervisor of the ecosystem restoration office, said the juniper removal is just one example of a project aided by the office. Other types of projects include streambank stabilization, wetland restoration and erosion control.
The Ecosystem Restoration Office is now accepting applications for projects for next year. Applications are due Aug. 1.
Ross said most of the projects that win funding are focused on improving habitat for endangered suckers that live in Upper Klamath Lake and the rivers and streams that flow into it. While the juniper stands may seem to be a long way from sucker habitat, there is a connection.
"The juniper up on those hills does relate in the grand scheme of things to suckers," he said.
By removing the junipers, more water springs up from the ground, providing water for wildlife and livestock, which improves the overall ecosystem of the Klamath Basin.
Scanlan said the junipers, whose numbers and distribution used to be controlled by wildfires, are now bordering on being a noxious plant.
"They totally dominate the water supply and kill everything else," he said.
To clear the juniper Scanlan has made deals with wood chip companies to have them come in and cut the trees, chip them on site and then ship them to biomass incinerators as far away as Susanville and White City. There the chips fuel power generation facilities.
He said it's an expensive, time-consuming project that he couldn't do without the help of the federal and state agencies.
"We are trying to correct in 10 years what took 100 years to develop," he said. "We could not do this without them."
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
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