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Juniper Control Aspen Restoration
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Aspen, Northern Great Basin
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Location; Steens Mountain, Oregon Cutting Treatment – 1/3 of mature junipers cut for developing fuels base in spring 2001. Fall Burns – applied October 2001 Spring Burn – applied April 2002 Cooperators ; Bureau of Land Management, Burns, Oregon Otley Brothers, Inc., Diamond, Oregon Aspen Restoration: Selective Juniper Cutting and Prescribed Fire
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Experimental Design 5 treatment replications. 3 treatments (Control (no treatment), cut & fall burn, cut & spring burn). Control Cut & fall burn Cut & spring burn
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Measurements : Project has evaluated … - Effectiveness of treatments at removing all juniper, from seedling to mature age classes. - Aspen recruitment - Shrub cover and density - Understory cover, density, and diversity
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Selective Cut and Fall Fire Intense fire September or October burns Burned with soils dry Higher risk of fire escape
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Selective Cut and Spring Fire Less intense fire Late April burn Burned with soils frozen and at field capacity No risk of fire escape
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Results FALL BURNS - 99.9% juniper kill - increased aspen suckering 6 fold (10,000 ha in 2004) - sagebrush lost, most other shrubs resprouted. - increased bareground. - lost most of the perennial understory except for plants with growth points below ground and with fire resistant seed. - stimulated T&E species
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Results SPRING BURNS - 10% of mature juniper remain. - 50% of juniper seedlings survived. Enough to fully restock site in 70-80 years. - Increased aspen to 5,000 ha - Sagebrush lost only under burned trees, other shrubs resprouted or not effected. - Understory remained largely intact. Understory cover and diversity increased 300%.
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Conclusions Cut and Fall Burn – most effective method for removing juniper. – greatest aspen recruitment – greater disturbance severity understory hydrology
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Conclusions Cut and Spring Burn – less effective method for removing subcanopy and seedling juniper. – increased aspen recruitment... but... – reduced disturbance severity understory hydrology aspen
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