This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Pinyon pines and juniper trees spread across the mid-elevation slopes of the American West, including California's Eastern Sierra. These hardy, short-statured trees are one of the most widespread vegetation types on federal lands, covering more than 100 million acres (405,000 square kilometers) across 10 Western states.
Over the past decade, members of the Bishop Paiute, Big Pine Paiute and Washoe tribes—whose ancestors have tended these woodlands since time immemorial—have seen a troubling trend. One member of the Big Pine Paiute Tribe said that at Westgard Pass, the woodland looked as if fire had passed through, but there had been no fire. The needles were thin and browning, and the trees looked unhealthy and poor.
"Pinyon and juniper trees tend to occur at lower elevations than other types of forests," explained Miranda Redmond, an associate professor in UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM). "They occupy some of the hottest and driest environments where trees can survive, so without these woodlands, our forested landscapes would be much smaller." For the last three years, Redmond has led the Pinyon Community Climate Action (PiCCA) Network, a collaborative project involving federal agencies, tribal nations, nongovernmental organizations and researchers from Stanford University. The project draws on Indigenous knowledge and Western science to understand how a changing climate is reshaping these woodlands and how communities can care for them.
Project partners have published the first study based on PiCCA research in People and Nature. More than 20 co-authors from 17 organizations contributed to the publication. Diana Macias, a University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow in Redmond's lab, served as the study's lead author.
Drawing on data collected during Indigenous-led woodland monitoring and a household survey of Eastern Sierra residents, the study confirmed what tribal members had observed on the ground. Most trees appeared healthy, but three areas—all in places where tribal partners had already identified decline—had a high proportion of unhealthy trees. The study also points to more than one path toward stewardship, running not only through formal education and climate knowledge but also through a personal connection to the land.
Pinyon-juniper woodlands grow in some of the hottest and driest places in the West. Their range runs from the Eastern Sierra and parts of Southern California east across Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. Water is scarce, so they grow slowly.
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