What to do with Western Juniper?

Juniper encroaching on sage brush habitat in Oregon.

         Not all invaders are aliens. Western juniper, Juniperus occidentalis, is invading grassland habitats in central and eastern Oregon. This native species doesn’t fit our official definition of an invasive species—“nonnative organisms that cause economic or environmental harm” (ORS 570.755) —but it is sure acting like one.

         Between 1936 and 1988, the area of juniper forest in eastern Oregon increased 5.3 times from 420,000 to 2,200,000 acres.* The reason for this slow but steady invasion is that we’ve changed the way grasslands are managed. Native Americans used to set fire to the grasslands to keep them open. Not any more. We do our best to suppress fires because they threaten houses, livestock, and other things we care about.

         Unfortunately, we’ve created a juniper invasion. Encroaching juniper is degrading sage grouse and other wildlife habitat, shading out native grasses, sucking up ground water, and creating opportunities for invasions of weeds and other undesirable species. The state has convened a large task force to look for solutions. It’s called the Western Juniper Working Group (WJUG), and I’m the representative from the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA).

         I’m learning fast that it is complex issue. Some people on the WJUG would like ODA to declare Western juniper a noxious weed. We’re not going to do that. It is a native species, and thus has a place in Oregon ecosystems. However, the expansion of juniper is a problem, and if some sort of official recognition would help focus attention on it, we should consider our options. I’m looking forward to the discussion at the next State Weed Board meeting.

         Reintroducing fire as a management tool would seem to be a no-brainer, but there are serious liability questions. Currently, if your controlled burn gets out of control, you’re liable for fire suppression costs and damages.

         Most juniper suppression projects today are cut, pile, and burn. It is laborious, costly, and not popular with some members of the public.

         The ideal solution would be to find economic uses for juniper so there would be an incentive to log the trees. There are two challenges to that idea. One is that junipers occur in areas where there aren’t many mills and markets. Thus, costs to transport harvested wood to places where it can be processed are generally prohibitive. Secondly, compared to other trees in Oregon, junipers are short and gnarly. Juniper just doesn’t compete with Douglas fir, Ponderosa pine, and other conifers in terms of producing a suite of desirable wood products.

         Juniper does make interesting rustic furniture, but it’s a niche market. You’ll find it at a gallery in Sisters, Oregon, but not at J.C. Penny. I have a coffee table with twisted juniper legs that I like, but it’s not for everyone.

         Juniper is superior to all other woods in one way. It makes great fence posts that don’t rot. OSU has fence post trials that go back to the 20s and 30s. The juniper heartwood fence posts from way back then are still standing! I’ve never seen juniper posts for sale in the building supply stores I frequent, but that is probably because no one asks for it, and it would be more expensive. Maybe we can start a movement to encourage people to ask for local juniper instead of using treated wood posts and landscape timbers. I’d pay more if I knew it was good for the environment and would last longer, wouldn’t you?

         We need a good slogan. How about:

• Got juniper?
• Juniper, the other fence post.
• Fence the invader! 

Help me out here. What would you recommend?

Dan Hilburn

*Gedney, D.R., D.L. Azuma, C.L. Bolsinger, and N. McKay. 1999. Western Juniper in      Eastern Oregon. USDA, Forest Service, Gen. Tech. Report PNW-GTR-464.     53pp.

Where do You Buy Plants?

         I’m a recreational vegetable gardener and semi-successful practitioner of low maintenance landscaping. My wife likes flowers. Every spring when the weather warms up, we drive to our favorite nurseries and stock up on seeds, plants, bushes, and trees. We’re lucky to live in western Oregon. Most of Oregon’s 3,000-plus nurseries are within 50 miles of our home. If you’re like us, you probably feel good about buying local plants.

         But are those plants in the garden center really local? You’d be surprised at the amount of plant material Oregon imports, some of it from overseas. Below is a summary of the nursery stock imported into Oregon from foreign sources last month (April, 2013).

12	Drosera	Australia	400	Origanum s	Israel
227	Sarracenia	Australia	100	Pelargonium	Israel
4,650	Dioneae	Australia	200	Rosmarinus officinalis	Israel
6,900	Cotinus	Netherlands	600	Salvia	Israel
700	Cordyline	Singapore	200	Satureja	Israel
8,000	Dracaena	Singapore	100	Stevia	Israel
3,210	Paeonia	Canada	1,000	Thymus	Israel
10,000	Brunnera	New Zealand	200	Zaluzianskya	Israel
1,500	Calibrachoa	Israel	26	Iris	Australia
360	Impatiens	Israel	77	Iris	Thailand
120	Nemesa	Israel	31,500	Ranunculus	France
920	Petunia	Israel	10	Plumeria	Thailand
1,400	Calibrachoa	Israel	38	Iris	Australia
400	Artemisa	Israel	1,800	Calibrachoa	Israel
200	Lippia	Israel	3,500	Petunia	Israel
1,000	Menta	Israel	1,000	Petunia	Israel
200	Ocimum	Israel	800	Petunia	Israel
2,000	Sedum	Israel	600	Petunia	Israel
3,600	Impatiens	Israel	1,400	Nemesia	Israel
2,000	Nasturtium	Israel	500	Ajuga	Israel
4,100	Erodium	Israel	900	Begonia	Israel
100	Petunia	Israel	1,300	Calibrachoa	Israel
1,000	Verbena	Israel	3,900	Lantana	Israel
700	Lantana	Israel	3,400	Petunia	Israel
600	Verbena	Israel	400	Calibrachoa	Israel
1,600	Lantana	Israel	800	Calibrachoa	Israel
100	Lantana	Israel	800	Petunia	Israel
200	Verbena	Israel	1,200	Petunia	Israel
100	Calibrachoa	Israel	100	Petunia	Israel
300	Verbena	Israel	105 g	Abies seed	Denmark

         Readers with a botany background will notice many common flowers and herbs on the list. Note that this is just the plant material imported from outside the country. Much more comes in from other states.

         Some of what is imported is new varieties developed elsewhere and not yet available here, but looking at the numbers above it seems some nurseries are outsourcing their propagation. It boggles my mind to think that Petunias grown in Israel can be shipped to Oregon more cheaply than they can be produced here!

         Leaving behind the incomprehensible economics, let’s turn to the plant pest risks. All the countries above have plant pests and diseases not present in Oregon. Commercial shipments like these are certified in their country of origin and screened when they enter this country. At the plant inspection stations (the closest one to Oregon is Seattle), a percentage of the boxes are opened and the plants are inspected for pests and disease. If there is a heavy infestation of a blight or pest of concern, the shipment is rejected.

         More likely though, a plant here and there will have a few whitefly eggs or a root rot, and the inspector doesn’t have a chance of spotting all the potential problems. Some will get through, and a percentage of those will find Oregon’s climate to their liking.

         When looking at invasive species pathways, global trade and travel in plant material is riskier than trade in manufactured goods. A live plant is the perfect vehicle for a hitchhiking mealybug or fungal blight, only it’s more than a ride. It’s a hop, skip, and a jump - from one continent to another.

         This is an example of how we’re our own worse enemy when it comes to invasive species. It is a people-created problem. We bring them to Oregon. On the positive side, that means that people are also the solution. I don’t blame nurseries for shopping around for the best prices from potential suppliers, but I do think the price of flower starts from overseas should include the cost of dealing with the invasive species problems they inevitably bring.

Dan Hilburn      

You Don't Know What You Got 'Til It's Gone

Every year, I travel thousands of miles along U.S. highways and byways. The best way to get a strong pulse on America is to travel through it, stopping at local coffee shops, and immersing yourself in the local politics, events, and other happenings. No matter where I've been or how long I've stayed, I've always found something I like in just about every place.

I recently vacationed in southern Arizona, and to get there, I traveled through the entire state of California, entering in southern Oregon, and departing in southeastern California. There's a lot I like about California - its beaches, wine country, national parks, and desert, to name a few. But the drive from Redding, California to Bakersfield, California on Interstate 5 would make anyone with a passion for eradicating invasive species cringe.

Why? Three reasons.

1. From the Sacramento River in northern California to Bakersfield, just about every Interstate-5 crossing is choked with Arundo donax. According to the county of San Diego, "Arundo donax was introduced to California in the early 1800s to be used as a roofing material and for erosion control in the canals. It is a reed that can grow to 20 feet or more. However, it grows in very dense stands, chokes off and kills other plant life and is unsuitable as a food source or nesting habitat for animals. Besides severely damaging the natural ecosystem, it can also clog stream flows; and is a tremendous fire hazard." It is amazing to see how this plant has transformed entire riparian corridors and river systems, just south of Oregon's border.

2. You have to travel through a town called Weed to get to Bakersfield on I-5. The good news is that the town is actually named after the founder of the local lumber mill and pioneer Abner Weed, a Maine transplant that came to California with his wife in 1869, settling in the Truckee area near Lake Tahoe. He moved to the Mount Shasta area and discovered that local strong winds were helpful in drying lumber. In 1897, he bought the Siskiyou Lumber and Mercantile Mill and 280 acres of land in what is now the City of Weed, for the sum of $400. By the 1940s Weed boasted the world's largest sawmill. Until I learned how the town of Weed got its name, I just assumed it was named for the abundance of invasive species present in and around the community, particularly along the I-5 corridor that splits the town. Anyway, I'm just glad there are no Oregon towns named after anything invasive (at least none that I know of). I just wouldn't want to give presentations about Oregon and have to reference the town of "Feral Pig, Oregon" or "Hydrilla, Oregon."

3. When you leave the town of Bakersfield heading east toward Tucson, Arizona, you traverse a highway called Weedpatch Highway, and once again, there does seem to be an abundance of weeds in this area. Weedpatch was featured in the Grapes of Wrath - it was the location of a government rescue center for distressed migrant workers fleeing the Oklahoma Dust Bowl agricultural disaster, during the Great Depression. I settled back in the drivers seat, reflecting on the fact that I'm glad Oregon doesn't have an "Orange Hawkweed Highway" or "Garlic Mustard Boulevard."

I also reflected on how adaptable people are - people are capable of no longer see invasive species as invasive because they have become part of the landscape. It reminded me of the Keep America Beautiful litter campaign in the United States in 1971 - few recognized that litter was changing the landscape of our country until a public outreach campaign, featuring a tearful native American in a television commercial, captured the hearts and motivation of many. The resulting call for action changed the culture of how people view litter in our country.

A few years ago, scientists in Oregon compared the number of invasive species in Oregon rivers and streams to those of neighboring states, and the results were impressive - they indicated that Oregon has a lot to protect. We haven't lost the fight against invasive species in Oregon, and there remains places in our state where native species thrive. Our mental picture of what Oregon should look like retains many of the qualities of natural functioning ecosystems.

My recent trip to Arizona did a lot to instill in me the need to keep fighting the fight. Because those that have lost what once was no longer see what they have lost. And I never want our state song to be, "You don't know what you've got' til its gone."

Lisa DeBruyckere