Redberry juniper (Juniperus pinchotii Sudw.) is a common invasive brush species that reduces rangeland productivity over vast acreages in the Rolling Plains and Edwards Plateau regions of Texas. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the economic feasibility of redberry juniper control and determine the optimum treatment cycle for maintenance burning. A response equation was used to estimate the relationship between herbage production and redberry juniper canopy. Data to estimate the relationship was obtained for a site in the Texas Rolling Plains. The analysis used chaining as the initial treatment and periodic prescribed burns as maintenance treatments. Additional livestock production resulting from brush treatments and the costs of treatments were estimated and used to calculate net present values of the investment in brush control over a 30-year time horizon. Net present values indicated that juniper control was economically feasible across a wide range of economic and environmental conditions. Prescribed burn intervals were found to be optimal at 7-year intervals under most conditions. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020
Scholarly peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol. 1, 1948 up to 5 years from the current year. Formerly Journal of Range Management (JRM). More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.