VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Juniperus pinchotii | Pinchot Juniper 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
Pinchot juniper wood is reddish brown to white, soft, and moderately
durable in soil [55].  The wood is used locally for fenceposts and fuel
but is not commercially important [55].

Pinchot juniper wood was used for bows and arrow shafts by the Kiowa,
Commanche, Cheyenne, and Apache [18].


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Pinchot juniper berries are eaten by many species of birds and small
mammals.  Foliage and twigs are consumed by white-tailed deer, but
Pinchot juniper is a low preference browse.  Pinchot juniper is browsed
more in poor growing seasons than in productive years [24,54].


PALATABILITY : 
NO-ENTRY


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Nutritional values of Pinchot juniper leaves are as follows [21]:

                              % of dry weight
ash                            4-6
cell wall components          34-37
phosphorus                  0.08-0.17
crude protein                  6-9
digestible organic matter     57-66


COVER VALUE : 
Pinchot juniper has high escape and thermal cover value for white-tailed
deer [9].  Many species of birds use Pinchot juniper for nesting and
roosting cover [54,55].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
NO-ENTRY


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Pinchot juniper has been used as parental stock for breeding ornamental
junipers [17].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
The range of Pinchot juniper has grown since the late nineteenth
century, largely through encroachment onto adjacent grasslands.  It was
estimated to occupy about 6 million acres (2.4 million ha) in western
and central Texas in 1972 [1,12].  Dense stands of Pinchot juniper
suppress the growth of forage plants and create difficulty in the
handling of livestock, and thus are detrimental to rangeland
productivity [51].  Pinchot juniper cover negatively influences grass
production on both grazed and ungrazed sites [34].  Where Pinchot
juniper is controlled or eradicated, forage production increases [17].
On some range sites Pinchot juniper serves as a soil stabilizer and
furnishes cover for wildlife.  Rangeland managers must take these
factors into account when determining on which sites Pinchot juniper
should be controlled [45].

The amount of Pinchot juniper encroachment differs between grazed and
ungrazed sites, and with the amount of grazing.  As range conditions
improve and grass cover increases, Pinchot juniper germination and
seedling survival decrease [38].

Control:  Ueckert and Whisenant [52] conducted a study to determine the
efficacy of a number of herbicides and compared the costs of chemical
control and hand or mechanical control of Pinchot juniper seedlings
(average 13 inches [34 cm] tall, up to 964 seedlings per acre
[2,409/ha]).  They determined that the least expensive-most effective
treatment was hand grubbing/ground level cutting of seedlings, costing
$9.26 per acre ($23.14/ha) based on a 1979 labor cost of $3.00 per hour.
This method resulted in complete control of seedlings.  Complete control
within 3 months was also achieved with the least expensive chemical
control: a foliar spray of dicamba at 1.1 pounds active ingredient per
acre (0.5 kg ai/ha).

Control of mature juniper is more difficult and expensive.  The most
effective chemical controls are wetting sprays of picloram in an
oil/water carrier, achieving 74 to 99 percent canopy reduction, and
wetting sprays of picloram plus 2,4,5-T (1:1) in an oil/water carrier,
achieving 82 to 100 percent canopy reduction.  Spring or fall treatments
are more effective than midsummer treatments [46].  Soil-applied
herbicides are relatively ineffective [44].

Mechanical methods for removing or controlling Pinchot juniper include
hand grubbing, chaining, tree-dozing or the use of a Jacques-saw [7].
The most effective treatments uproot trees so that they cannot sprout.
These methods can lower the Pinchot juniper canopy and increase grass
production, but residual stems, sprouts, and debris will build up over
time, and new Pinchot juniper seedlings can become established [51].
These methods are usually fairly costly.  In the past, some managers
recouped some control costs by harvesting fenceposts and fuelwood [7].

Sites on which Pinchot juniper is mechanically killed (by chaining or
tree-dozing) will be infested with Pinchot juniper seedlings rapidly.
These sites should be burned by prescription 3 to 5 years after the
mechanical treatment.  Grazed sites, because of the increased frequency
of Pinchot juniper establishment, need to be burned every 7 to 10 years
to maintain high grass production and kill Pinchot juniper seedlings
before the basal bud zone is protected by soil [33].

In areas where Pinchot juniper is considered a problem, ranchers
estimated that they achieved a 40 to 50 percent increase in stocking
capacity and a 50 percent reduction in labor costs where they controlled
Pinchot juniper (any means of control) [12].

Related categories for Species: Juniperus pinchotii | Pinchot Juniper