See The Science

Suggested Readings

With such a large library of resources, it is easy to get overwhelmed. The following list of resources is recommended for each topic area. 

Hydrology

• Roundy et al. 2014. Piñon-Juniper reduction increases soil water availability of the resource growth pool. Rangeland Ecology and Management 67:495–505.
• Roundy et al. 2020. Long-term effects of tree expansion and reduction on soil climate in a semiarid ecosystem. Ecosphere 11:e03241.
• Kormos et al. 2017. Ecosystem water availability in juniper versus sagebrush snow-dominated rangelands. Rangeland Ecology and Management 70:116–128.
• Williams et al. 2020. Long-term effectiveness of tree removal to re-establish sagebrush steppe vegetation and associated spatial patterns in surface conditions and soil hydrologic properties. Water 12:2213.

Vegetation

• Filippelli et al. 2020. Monitoring pinyon-juniper cover and aboveground biomass across the Great Basin. Environmental Research Letters 15:025004.
• Reinhardt et al. 2020. Quantifying pinyon-juniper reduction within North America’s sagebrush ecosystem. Rangeland Ecology and Management 73:420–432.
• Chambers et al. 2021. Sagebrush recovery patterns after fuel treatments mediated by disturbance type and plant functional group interactions. Ecosphere 12:e03450.
• Davies et al. 2019. To burn or not to burn: Comparing reintroducing fire with cutting an encroaching conifer for conservation of an imperiled shrub-steppe. Ecology and Evolution 9:9137–9148.
• Roundy et al. 2014. Understory cover responses to piñon-juniper treatments across tree dominance gradients in the Great Basin. Rangeland Ecology and Management 67:482–494.

Carbon and Nutrient Cycling

• Rau et al. 2011. Woodland expansion’s influence on belowground carbon and nitrogen in the Great Basin U.S. Journal of Arid Environments 75:827–835.
• Abdallah et al. 2020. Ecosystem carbon in relation to woody plant encroachment and control: juniper systems in Oregon USA. Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment 290:106762. 
• Rau et al. 2009. Soil carbon and nitrogen in a Great Basin pinyon-juniper woodland: Influence of vegetation, burning, and time. Journal of Arid Environments 73:472–479.

Wildlife

• Olsen et al. 2021. Reversing tree expansion in sagebrush steppe yields population-level benefit for imperiled grouse. Ecosphere 12:e03551. 
• Coates et al. 2017. Pinyon and juniper encroachment into sagebrush ecosystems impacts distribution and survival of greater sage-grouse. Rangeland Ecology and Management 70:25–38.
• Baruch-Mordo et al. 2013. Saving sage-grouse from the trees: A proactive solution to reducing a key threat to a candidate species. Biological Conservation 167:233–241.
• Severson et al. 2017. Short-term response of sage-grouse nesting to conifer removal in the northern great basin. Rangeland Ecology and Management 70:50–58.
• Sandford et al. 2017. Greater sage-grouse resource selection drives reproductive fitness under a conifer removal strategy. Rangeland Ecology and Management 70:59–67.
• Holmes et al. 2017. Bird responses to removal of western juniper in sagebrush-steppe. Rangeland Ecology and Management 70:87–94.
• Bergman et al. 2014. Habitat management influences overwinter survival of mule deer fawns in Colorado. Journal of Wildlife Management 78:448–455.