Travels & Trails

Travels and Trails Magnificent Trees

of the White Mountains

by Ron Miller, M.S., Silviculturist

One-see Juniper (Juniperus monosperma)

In the July-August 2019 edition of The Maverick, Editor Amie Rodgers conducted an insightful interview with White Mountain Apache Tribal Chairwoman Gwendena LeeGatewood. The article was entitled “You’ve Got To Be Tough To Make A Difference” and began with a photograph (reprinted here) of the Chairwoman and the previous Chairman of the Tribe sitting next to a juniper. The juniper in that picture is a one-seed juniper and I’m sure that it was not lost on the participants that the Apache name for this species is gad tsagi which in that native language means “tough juniper”. One-seed juniper is indeed tough. It has an incredible root system that allows it to survive in harsh environments. It is cold-, wind-, and drought-tolerant. It provides shelter for wildlife and less tolerant plants. One-seed juniper grows in all of our four-corner states, centered in New Mexico, plus western Texas and the panhandle of Oklahoma. One-seed juniper is part of the pinyon/juniper forest belt growing between 3,500 and 7,000 feet in elevation in Arizona. The trunk or bole of the tree is heavily branched at or near its base. It is almost always multistemmed. The bark is fibrous, thin, shreddy and gray-brown in color. The stem is orangebrown beneath the bark. Utah juniper, by contrast, is a much larger tree, often has fewer stems, and has thicker, shaggy bark. The two junipers can be further distinguished by their female cones. One-seed juniper “berries” are less than a quarter the size of Utah juniper’s. They are also succulent rather than dry. When ripe, the seed can be squeezed out of a one-seed juniper with your fingers, a feat which cannot be done with Utah junipers. Finally, one-seed cones are much more pungent. Juniper berries create the flavoring for gin and these taste and smell much stronger. One-seed cones are green at first, maturing to copper or blue-black. They mature 6-8 months after pollination and like all of our junipers, are wind pollinated. Birds and small mammals are the primary dispersal agent of the seeds after they ingest the cones. Another difference between these two commonly mistaken junipers is that Utah junipers are monoecious (male and female parts are on the same tree) while one-seed junipers are dioecious (the male and female trees are separate). You will see the male one-seed junipers with their pollen while the female trees have their small berry-like cones. A special place to see one-seed junipers, where they comprise the majority of the woodland forest, is at the Sipe White Mountain Wildlife Area just southeast of Eager and Springerville. This is a great place to visit especially during the hummingbird festival when experts band and discuss the fascinating lives of these irrepressible, iridescent birds or during the elk workshops when these large ungulates are the star attraction. Leave time to hike the High Point Loop Trail to see the oneseed junipers, view petroglyphs, and gaze out on Escudilla Mountain where the last grizzly bear in Arizona took refuge until he met his untimely, ignominious death. This concludes the descriptions of the four tree-sized junipers in the White Mountains. One way I’ve helped folks remember them all is with an imaginary hero named Juan Juniperseed who spends his days planting junipers all over the Southwest just as Johnny Appleseed reportedly planted apple trees in the East. Now imagine that Juan had only one-seed left to plant when he was chased up a rocky mountain in Utah by an alligator! This lively picture should help you recall our four magnificent juniper species here in the White Mountains.

This article is dedicated to my Choctaw father-in-law, also a forester, who passed away from a stroke this past Spring. He was also “tsagi" having survived multiple heart bypasses during his 85 years on this earth.

About the author: Ron is a retired Forester and Silviculturist. He has lived and worked in the White Mountains since 2002. He can be reached at azron333@yahoo.com.

At left: White Mountain Apace Tribal Chairwoman Gwendena Lee-Gatewood with former Chairman Ronnie Lupe. Above from left to right: the one-seed juniper "berries", another example of this tree and pungent one-seed juniper cones.

New Cornhole Set at Show Low City Park

Patrons can now play cornhole at Show Low City Park.

City Park is now home to a refurbished cornhole set. Staff has upgraded the shuffleboard game that used to be in the park, furnishing a new cornhole set. The new set is located by the pavilion and is ready for play! Everyone is welcome to use this set, and all patrons need to bring with them are their own bags to play.

Help TRACKS Take Care of Our Trails By Shopping at Their Yard Sale July 24

The 501.C.3 non-profit volunteer organization authorized by the National Forest Service to build and maintain over 200 miles of trails for non-motorized users will be holding a yard sale of "gently used" outdoor equipment on Saturday, July 24th. The Sale starts at 7 am and will run until 2 pm at the building next to the White Mountain Nature Center (537 S. Woodland Rd in Lakeside). Funds from this sale will benefit TRACKS in it's mission to build and maintain non-motorized trails in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.