Commercial market for western juniper studied
A Portland non-profit will use a USDA Rural Development grant to expand markets for western juniper, which could help keep greater sage grouse off the endangered species list, aid Eastern Oregon ranchers and provide jobs.
It starts with a $64,990 USDA grant to Sustainable Northwest, the non-profit, which will explore commercial uses of western juniper, a knotty, twisty wood that’s difficult to mill. The idea is to certify engineering design values for juniper, which is naturally rot-resistant and for now is largely limited to use as landscape timbers, sign posts, garden boxes and the like.
Oregon State University and the West Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau will assess the design values over the coming year. A bigger market for lumber made from western juniper could have an echo effect in Eastern Oregon, where removing the tree is seen as a key factor in helping sage grouse recover.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide in 2015 whether to list sage grouse as endangered. Western junipers are a problem because they crowd out sagebrush and grasses favored by the birds, suck up water and provide perches for hawks, ravens and other predator birds that prey on young sage grouse or eat eggs.
A 2013 study by the Nature Conservancy showed sage grouse leks, or breeding areas, do not exist where junipers and pinyon pines cover more 4 percent of the area.
Western juniper encroachment in Eastern Oregon is estimated at 6 million to 10 million acres; the Nature Conservancy study concluded an investment of $8.75 million annually could eliminate encroachment near all known Oregon leks within the next decade.
Killing junipers through prescribed burns is an acceptable treatment, but mechanical removal — logging — provides a more immediate benefit, according to the study. To make cutting juniper worth the expense, however, an expanded lumber market is necessary.
Oregon cattle ranchers and producers throughout 10 other western states believe an endangered listing for sage grouse would be devastating, bringing grazing restrictions and other regulations. In an attempt to head off listing, voluntary efforts have sprung up in several states. In May, Harney County ranchers in Southeast Oregon signed agreements to improve sage grouse habitat on up to 1 million acres of private rangeland. In return for management changes, including juniper removal, ranchers will be sheltered for 30 years from additional regulations even if the bird is listed as endangered.