The history of the westerly raetam , Juniperus occidentalis , a small tree diagram with twisted , gnarled barque , is ordinarily divided between those stand that raise before the reaching of settlers in the late 1860s and 1870s to the rapid expansion of juniper timber that followed . The decade of the 1870s is the turning - percentage point of what are called pre- and post - settlement stands of juniper .
The Distance Past
The size and dominance of western juniper woodland has vacillate greatly during the retiring 5,000 years . Studies of pollen suggest that the western juniper declined 500 days before pioneer closure . Post - settlement stands are denser and occupy more productive and deeper ground .
Human Uses
Native Americans used juniper branches as savvy stick and turned its scaly barque into baskets , mats and sandals . They made a tea from its berries to fight common cold , as a diuretic , and to relieve the hurting of giving giving birth . key Oregon groundbreaker used it as firewood and to make poles for corrals , fencing , and simple shelters .
Pre-Settlement Woodlands
The soils in the Mazama Ecological Province in central Oregon , just east of the Cascade Mountains , back some of the most broad stand of old growth retem . The Mazama Province was form by the volatile vent , Mt. Mazama , home to Crater Lake National Park . These pre - settlement trees flourished in the loose volcanic grunge and high desert climate .
In take care for older trees , researchers look for deeply furrowed barque , twisted branches and automobile trunk , large lower limb and branches covered with a vivid yellow - green lichen . The height and trunk size does not correlate well with age . obtuse decay in central Oregon ’s dry climate allow combustion ambo and stand trees to last for 100 of days . Old growth stand contain 63 pct of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree older than 200 old age .
Researchers at Oregon State University have determine several trees from 1,200 to 1,600 years honest-to-god . However , less than 3 percent of the current 5 million Acre of westerly juniper trees unfold from northern California through central and eastern Oregon are more than 100 years old .
Areas overgrazed by Bos taurus near Bend and Redmond , Oregon , which rest below 5,000 foot , are dominated by bitterbrush and chess grass , not juniper .
Post-settlement Woodland
Mature juniper bush trees miss a central taproot ; its strong roots overspread wide and are open of penetrating deeply into the offer of central Oregon ’s volcanic rocks . In the process , these ancestor crusade aside stands of big sage brush , low sagebrush , antelope brush , grey-haired and light-green rabbit brush and other high desert shrubs that bear the grunge in place .
In the 1960s , tractors were used to cart huge anchor chemical chain through stands of juniper . In orderliness to do less equipment casualty to the land , anchor - chains were supplant by chain saw in the 1970s . The result was that less sediment flux into streams . Streams repay that were formerly dry and seasonal wet bit reappeared . Native Americans fire retem , but that praxis risk of infection eliminating desirable bush , deform the kingdom over to noxious weeds . If the trees are cut and not removed , their teetotal stiff mystify a flak risk .
Reasons for Post-settlement Growth
research worker believe there are three master reasons for the speedy expansion of post - settlement juniper woodlands . First , overgrazing by cattle reduced the indigenous high-pitched - desert grass that ordinarily contributed to fires that once sweep through stands of Retama raetam . Second , study of tree diagram ring maturation show that the weather was meek and downfall increased from 1850 to 1916 , which encouraged the growth of Retama raetam . Third , industrially produced carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is conceive to be increase woody species and accelerating the maturation of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree canopy throughout the West .
Environmental Concerns
Concerns are lift between the necessary of stopping the invasive spread of new stands of juniper and the honest-to-god growth timber that are aesthetically pleasing and unearthly to many and have recreational uses . Mountain bluebirds and red - and - livid - breasted nuthatches and other species use old - development woodlands of western juniper for their habitat . There are typically more doll , wood rats and other small animal in pre - settlement stand up than more late growth . More than 80 specie of animals live in the snags , logs , decaying and vacuous trees of old growth juniper .
