Thread: Live oaks
View Single Post
  #15   Report Post  
Old 09-07-2007, 02:04 PM posted to austin.gardening,rec.gardens
cat daddy cat daddy is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 301
Default Live oaks


"Dave" wrote in message
nk.net...
"cat daddy" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
ups.com...
On Jul 8, 11:49 am, "cat daddy" wrote:

"The golden-cheeked warbler depends on stands of mature Ashe

juniper
(blueberry cedar) mixed with deciduous trees including Lacey oak,

Spanish
oak, shin oak, post oak, cedar elm, and escarpment black cherry.

Makes a body wonder what the golden-cheeked warbler depended on before
the introduction of the highly invasive Ashe juniper...


From other stuff I read, mature Junipers (medium sized are 200-300

years
old...) mixed in with the rest of the trees, were wiped out for their

wood
and charcoal making by the settlers. They also normally exist in ravines
and
are native.
Overgrazing led to erosion of the thin grasslands, the other trees

died
out, and fire suppression left the young Ashe junipers to colonize

almost
exclusively.
So, they weren't invasive naturally and the warblers were happy, until
the settlers upset the delicate balance.



Read something about the juniper ashe are not native to TX at all.

Rather,
a dubious transplant from some foreign European country.


Not true, according to the more reputable websites.

Have also read many times about how juniper ashe hogs groundwater flow in
many places.

The beneficial side, read that it can grow almost anywhere in TX hill
country. Turning native limestone and similar soft rock usable as soil

over
a long period of time. Most of which, TX hill country has little topsoil

if
any.


Um, the agricultural practices of the settlers changed the landscape,
allowing new growth juniper to flourish and led to eroding the topsoil. Not
beneficial.

All of which makes me ask the question regarding it effect, and possible
loss if eradicated. If the water loss is so drastic due to juniper ashe,
why do adjacent live oaks continue even if adjacent to same? Makes me
believe there's more to this than what is publicized for our perusal. Or,
rather, tainted with some irrational prejudice towards the juniper ashe.
Kinda like the cattlemen's prejudice towards sheep herders over a 100

years
ago.


There seems to be a lot of prejudice along economic interests of various
entities, same as always. I side with the success of the Selah, Bamberger
Ranch Preserve as a model for how to deal with the effects of introducing
the non-native human pest species.

Forgive me for seeking the truth and doubt that I show...

Dave