Cutting junipers can bring back water supply John Swanson, a rangeland management specialist with the Bureau of Land Management, has seen similar things happen. He's seen little patches of green grass turn into a spring with flowing water and streamside vegetation two years after removing junipers. "There had been lots of anecdotal information from landowners and others that said when we cut a large group of juniper trees, we had increased flows from a stream, or we turned streams from ephemeral to almost perennial," said Tim Deboodt, Oregon State University Extension agent in Prineville. "But that's all they were, were stories." Now, however, Deboodt and other researchers are getting the first set of results from the 15-year Camp Creek Paired Watershed Study that examines how the removal of junipers which can suck up more than 30 gallons of water a day affects water flows in the High Desert. Then, almost three years ago, crews started cutting down hundreds of junipers in one watershed, leaving only the old-growth trees that were standing before settlers came to the region. In the other watershed, they let the junipers stand. And they took more measurements. "We did get an increase of spring flow in the treated watershed, and most important, we had a huge difference in the late-season flow, the time from late July through September, when we don't get much rain, if any at all," Deboodt said. A spring that had flowed at an average of 2 gallons a minute now pumped out 6 to 7 gallons a minute, he said. And that extra water is beneficial for wildlife and can also create little wetlands, he said: "It sort of makes some unique habitat, little oases on the desert." Extra water could also provide more flexibility for ranchers, because if more pastures stayed greener later into the fall, they could have more options for where to graze their livestock, he said....