The Bureau of Land Management’s Ely District is hand thinning selected pinyon-pine and juniper on 539 acres of the public lands in the Kern Mountains near the Utah state line, about 50 miles northeast of Ely, Nev.
Natural Resource Specialist Kellie Dobrescu said that hand-thinning is used when pinyon-juniper expansion is less dominate. “It is often referred to as ‘lop and scatter’ because crews lop and scatter targeted trees across the treatment area. Non-targeted tree species, brush, grasses, and forbs are not impacted,” said Dobrescu.
The tree-thinning treatment, which will continue through mid-April, is part of the Kern Mountains Landscape Restoration Project that over a several year period will treat up to 12,580 acres of a 15,725-acre project area.