Juniper Invasion - Steens Mountain Loop Road, Oregon - Flora and Fauna Information Signs on Waymarking.com

Sign #1 Name: Too Much of a Good Thing
Sign #1 Text: Without fire, long-lived juniper gains a competitive edge over its plant neighbors. It slowly tops species such as sagebrush and rabbitbrush and crowds out stands of aspen. More critically, an average juniper tree guzzles between 40 to 60 gallons of water each day ! It spreads its roots deep and wide, sucking up all available moisture and leaving other vegetation high and dry! Given time, only juniper remains.
As a complex plant community transforms into a juniper monoculture, the diversity of wildlife also declines. Loss of diversity negatively impacts the ecosystem by reducing available grasses and forage. It also impacts ranching which is important to the local economy and social fabric of the area.

Sign #2 Name: A Century Without Fire
Sign #2 Text: The high desert ecosystems historically depended on wildfire. Periodic blazes kept the slow-growing juniper seedlings in check, allowing sagebrush and aspen to dominate their respective habitats. Shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers created a varied understory which, in turn, supported a rich mix of mammals and birds. Active fire suppression came hand-in-hand with the settlement of Oregon and removed the role of wildfire that kept juniper in check. Homes, fields, and livestock herds required protection. After more than 100 years, the effects on the landscape are now dramatic and obvious.

Sign #3 Name: An Invasion of Native Plants
Sign #3 Text: In recent decades, juniper has spread explosively across the landscape, converting open sage-steppe ecosystems into dense thickets of juniper woodland. This gnarled, aromatic tree is native to the ecosystem. However, since 1850 and the use of fire suppression, more than nine million acres have gradually become low elevation juniper forest.