Herbaceous Restoration of Juniper Dominated Grasslands With Chaining and Fire

Juniper (Juniperus spp.) encroachment in grasslands usually progresses toward a stable woody state of mature trees that requires a significant disturbance to shift succession in another direction. Fire alone is often inadequate to shift succession in dense stands of mature juniper and must be preceded by a mechanical treatment such as chaining to reduce juniper competition and increase herbaceous growth that fuels a subsequent fire. However, little long-term data are available that measure combined effects of mechanical and fire treatments on restoration of juniper-dominated grasslands. Here, on a degraded (40% bare ground) north Texas site dominated by redberry juniper (Juniperus pinchotii Sudw), we quantify long-term herbaceous responses to mechanical chaining followed by fire. Two types of chaining, ground-level and elevated, were evaluated and all chained plots were burned 4 years after chaining. Herbaceous and woody responses were measured for several years after both chaining and fire treatments and compared to untreated controls. At study termination, both of the chaining + fire treatments reduced juniper cover from 32% to