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Description:
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Redberry juniper is one of the most common undesirable plants on Texas rangelands . Redberry juniper is an evergreen conifer found mainly in westem Texas . Oklahoma , New Mexico , and Arizona (Smith , Wright , and Schuster , 1975 ) . Redberry juniper grows to about 7 .6 m tall with lower branches occurring close to the ground (Correll and Johnston , 1970 ) . According to Scifres (1980 ) , redberry juniper occurs most frequently on rough rangeland on shallow soils in the Rolling Plains and Edwards Plateau Region of Texas . Cedar (redberry juniper ) is a resprouter , with its bud zone often located beneath the soil surface (Dye , Ueckert , and Whisenant , 1995 ) .
Redberry juniper infestations have plagued rangelands since the early twentieth century because of overgrazing , periodic droughts , climatic conditions and atmospheric CO2 concentration more favorable for woody plants , and the absence of natural fires . In the last 50 years , however , infestations have increased . Redberry juniper infestations have increased from 2 .5 million ha in 1948 to 4 .1 million ha in 1982 in a 65 -county area in northwestem Texas (Ansley , Pinchak , and Ueckert , 1995 ) . The National Resources Inventory estimated in 1987 that moderate -to -dense infestations of cedar in northwest Texas had increased by 16 % from 1982 to 1987 (USDA , 1990 ) . This increase in redberry juniper poses threats to the economic potential of rangeland in the Rolling Plains and Edwards Plateau regions of Texas .
Although much research has been conducted on techniques and approaches to control redberry juniper , limited research has been done to evaluate the economic feasibility of the various control practices . This study evaluated the economic feasibility of individual tree hexazinone applications as an initial method of redberry juniper control and as a maintenance treatment following mechanical methods . |