How invasive woody plants affect water supply

Woody shrubs and trees like juniper have in recent decades replaced arid and semiarid grasslands and savannas throughout much of the western United States, from the Great Plains to the Gulf Coast. "Encroachment of woody plants limits the amount of forage available to livestock, alters the natural landscape for native wildlife, impedes the flow of water available at the surface, and creates conditions for more catastrophic fires," Jackson says.

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