Portland Oregon Couple Discovers Juniper

May 21, 2010 - PRLog -- When Samantha and Glenn Moore began the process of restoring and remodeling their SE Portland Cabin the primary goal was to utilize locally sourced and sustainable materials.  Being not only permaculture advocates, but also holding permaculture design certificates the Moores had concerns about how available materials would interact with the homes surrounding land. Through diligent research the Moore’s discovered that a nearby lumberyard was experimenting with Western Juniper for a wide range of uses. A local lumber yard had just started stocking Juniper posts, decking, and interior paneling when the owner connected with the Moore’s and heard about their project. The Moore's immediately recognized the confluence of their needs and Junipers potential. The wheels really started spinning as the Moore’s began to discover the deep back-story of Juniper.

When most of us think of Juniper we think of the twisted and sparse shrubs of the high desert. Increasingly this is no longer the case. Hundreds of years of high desert wisdom, and now some 80 years of documented research are now making their way into the public sphere.  Oregon native Western Juniper, with its unsurpassed durability is the ideal softwood species for various building applications, particularly outdoor and in-ground uses such as decking, planter boxes, raised beds, retaining walls, and fence posts.  Juniper outperforms chemically treated wood by a wide margin while remaining entirely organic and non-toxic, Juniper is 100% child, pet, and garden safe.  Oregon State University studies dating back to 1928 qualify Juniper for an in ground rating of 50+ years, 30 years for kiln dried decking. Western Junipers’ natural beauty also makes it a great choice for rustic interior applications like post and beam, paneling, flooring, and trim.  Another added benefit of Juniper is that it is considered a recycled forest product.  

Western Juniper is not commercially harvested, but cut based on the needs of grassland, watershed, and forestland restoration/reclamation projects. Juniper has become a serious problem as an invasive plant in eastern Oregon not only choking out other native plant species, but also consuming the water table. A Juniper in its peak of growth can take over 100 gallons of water through its root system per day, literally drying out creeks and streams. Numerous landowners have witnessed streams coming back to life after surrounding stands of Juniper have been removed. Western Juniper is harvested in a sustainable manner, taking trees at their peak of growth while leaving mature twisted trees as wildlife habitat. Western Juniper is an opportunistic and invasive species, literally taking over land and water resources, and disrupting fragile ecosystems.

  Within the last 150 years Western Junipers range has increased over ten-fold. Agencies, non-profits, and watershed councils have spent years and considerable taxpayer dollars developing strategies to reduce Juniper populations with limited success. Western Juniper never held much appeal to the traditional western softwood industry. Juniper is more difficult to harvest because it doesn’t necessarily grow in stands; trees are inconsistently spaced. Juniper also has a much lower return on lumber per log. Compared to Pine or Fir where the return can be as high as 80% Juniper may only yield 35-40% lumber. More work for less lumber if you’re of the glass half empty mindset. A new lumber and biomass resource who’s harvest benefits the land if you view the glass half full. If not for the efforts of the emerging Juniper based alternative lumber industry to process and distribute this valuable resource, the felled trees would simply be piled up and burned creating significant waste and unnecessary pollution.

Now some two years later the Moore’s cabin, while still a work in progress, bears the distinctive signature of Juniper almost everywhere you look. From interior touches like window trim,  bedroom flooring,  rustic posts with decorative headers, to exterior uses like front porch decking and rails, fencing and gates. The Moore’s are currently working with Kyle Lynch of KL-Design Group, and Snyder and Snyder architects on a semi traditional post and beam long house, built from Juniper, to be constructed on the back of their half acre property, and to be surrounded by an edible forest based on permaculture principles. The Moore’s ultimate goal is that their home and land be used as an educational model for teaching about alternative building material, sustainable development, and permaculture principles in urban farming.  Look for the Moore’s home in this years “Build it Green! Home Tour”.

Links:
http://juniper.oregonstate.edu/factsheet.php

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Oregon Juniper is Portland Oregon’s premier sustainable outdoor lumber source. Specializing in Western Juniper.