The Breeses' 7,800-acre Dixie Meadow Company stands at the foot of Pilot Butte near Prineville, Oregon. John's family lived in one of the old homestead's houses until the well dried up in the late 1940s. That was the first indication that something about the ranch's hydrologic cycle was changing for the worse.

Family pictures from the 1890s reveal land that had more native grass and shrubs, and virtually no juniper. Fire scars indicate fire intervals of 15 to 25 years. The regular fires kept the juniper under control, giving grasses the advantage in the competition for water and nutrients. But by 1987 junipers populated most of the Dixie Meadow rangeland, as they do much of Central and Eastern Oregon's High Desert range.

Shortly after Lynne and John assumed responsibility for the ranch, they were walking their upland pine forest with Oregon State University rangelands scientist Lee Eddleman and several agency staff. John recalls, "We could see down to the main homestead where the meadow and riparian areas are. Lee asked how we were going to manage this part of the ranch. I mentioned I wanted to 'fix' the meadow and riparian area. Discussion led to the fact that it doesn't do any good to 'fix' the meadow before you fix the uplands."

Thinking the problem overwhelming, someone protested that 'nobody would ever do that.' It was a "eureka moment" for John and Lynne. With juniper impinging on the health of their land and their pocketbook, they decided then and there that they must start their watershed restoration by focusing on the juniper taking over their uplands.

The momentous task of removing acre after acre of juniper trees is now a part of a full-fledged restoration of the ranch's former hydrologic capacity. They have cut over 2,500 acres of juniper, approaching half the area that was covered with the trees when they started fourteen years ago.

Tim Deboodt, Crook County Extension Agent, finds that almost all juniper removal is for resource restoration, including forage enhancement and hydrologic improvements. Tim reports that people within the ranching community have been working on the juniper problem for a long time. He thinks the rest of Oregon is just now becoming aware of juniper's impact.

Restoring a watershed is a complex struggle to regain conditions necessary for all the species of an ecosystem to thrive. John explains, "Junipers have the ability to use water anytime of the year. This is a great competitive advantage. Most of our grasses are cool season grasses that don't start growing until late spring through June. By then junipers have used much of the available water."

As lack of regular fire has allowed juniper to expand, grasses and forbs that kept the soil in place disappear. "When enough topsoil is gone, even if junipers are removed, we can never go back to the ecologic conditions we had before the invasion began," says John.

According to a 1999 US Forest Service publication, "Western Juniper in Eastern Oregon," a 1936 record estimated just 420,000 acres of juniper forests in the state. By 1988 the estimated total had risen to 6 million acres; and in Eastern Oregon there were 2.2 million acres with crown cover greater than 10 percent.

"Sweat equity" has paid for much of the Breese's juniper removal. Friend and retired truck driver Gus Geisler helped. He spread the cut juniper brush out on the ground by hand to protect emerging grasses from summer sun and wind. John estimates Gus has sold over 2,000 cords of firewood from the juniper removal effort. The financial return to the ranch is increasingly open and more productive rangeland.

There is a lot of skepticism about an intensive program of juniper removal. "Many folks would say it is not worth the effort," says John. Indeed, selling it as firewood is accepting the lowest economic return. The Breese family and others think they can do better.

A few pioneering landowners, companies and non-profits are looking at market possibilities for juniper. Products now under development include building products (lumber, wainscoting and flooring), but also animal bedding, creative arts, oils for machinery lubrication and perfumes.

The Breeses are part of a new effort to study the economics of juniper harvesting. The project is looking at different harvest techniques, their cost and associated site-recovery. The study is hosted by the Central Oregon Partnership and draws on the experience of many organizations and local businesses.

With all the landowner and business interest in the species one would expect a large investment in technical assistance. Yet the official support network that exists to help with management and marketing of commercial tree species is not as responsive to the particular challenges juniper present.

While acknowledging that help cannot be found with one phone call, Tim reports that expertise is growing. "You have to go looking for it." Between Extension Service agents, watershed councils, the Natural Resource and Conservation Service, BLM and Forest Service staff, he feels assistance is available.

Removal of the juniper does not guarantee a watershed is 'fixed,' however. Without regular fire cycles, juniper will come back. Prescribed fire would be one solution.

Tim says he talks about prescribed fire when advising landowners about their options, "But that involves a lot of risks for landowners." Inside the Oregon Department of Forestry protection boundary landowners are liable for damage if a prescribed fire escapes their land. Instead of taking the risk, Tim says, many landowners just plan on cutting the juniper again.

Hundreds of acres of juniper removal later, the Breese family can see results. "The meadow is looking better-greener, more grass and improved riparian vegetation." And about that well that dried up in the 1940s? John confirms, "Four years after juniper removal, sub-surface water was running at 18 inches below the surface and earthworms had returned to the soil, in spite of a 3 to 4-year dry cycle."

Tim Deboodt likens juniper trees to Wiley Coyote, the cartoon character that, after each devastating setback while hounding Roadrunner, remains unfazed. But with a sound restoration plan and hard work, John and Lynne Breese are restoring their watershed to its former abundance. John reminds us that there is no magic bullet, "But the starting place is at the top of the watershed."