SALEM — The battle against junipers would get a $9 million boost in seven Oregon counties under a bill intended to protect scarce water from the notoriously thirsty rangeland trees.

Under House Bill 3142, juniper removal grants ranging from $500,000 to $2.5 million would be directed to soil and water conservation districts in Crook, Jefferson, Klamath, Deschutes, Harney, Lake and Wheeler counties.

Another $800,000 would be appropriated for Oregon State University to help grant recipients identify where juniper removal will “provide the greatest benefit to water resources and ecological health,” focusing on methods that reduce the tree’s ability to recapture cleared territory.

“This bill will make the water availability pie bigger,” said Tim Deboodt, Crook County’s natural resources policy coordinator.

Western junipers have aggravated drought impacts and wildfire risks in Central and Eastern Oregon as their acreage has expanded roughly 10-fold in the state since the late 1800s, he said.

Their removal helps restore rangeland hydrology, since the evergreen trees can transpire water year-round, Deboodt said.

In Crook County alone, junipers consume about 150,000 acre-feet of water annually, which is equivalent to the capacity of the Prineville Reservoir, he said. The reservoir serves roughly 900 farms and ranches in the Ochoco Irrigation District.

If lawmakers approve HB 3142, the money would be fast-tracked for on-the-ground operations as early as this summer and autumn, which will also provide a workforce benefit, said Doug Riggs, lobbyist for the Central Oregon Cities Organization.

“We have existing projects in the basin that dovetail with what we’re trying to do,” Riggs said.

In areas with a 50% cover of juniper, the trees consume roughly half the water available from precipitation, worsening droughts when rainfall is lower than historically normal, said Adam Haarberg, program manager for the Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Without water, stream restoration projects that reconnect floodplains and improve riparian vegetation only have limited benefits for fish, which is why juniper removal is necessary to restore historic flows, he said.

“Because of the ongoing drought, I’ve shifted my focus from the streams to the uplands,” Haarberg said.

Maintaining treated acres generally involves using prescribed fire to eliminate new juniper trees before they regain dominance, which usually happens within 30 to 50 years, Deboodt said.

“Fire is what kept juniper confined to the rocky ridge tops and the shallow soil areas of our rangelands,” he said.

Those areas, which historically lacked enough fine fuels to burn the trees, are where the oldest juniper specimens still survive, DeBoodt said.

“In the absence of that fire since the late 1800s, that in part is why we have the expansion going on,” he said. “It’s going to have to be a part of the equation.”

However, spending nearly $10 million for juniper removal under HB 3142 has also drawn criticism from the Central Oregon Landwatch and Waterwatch of Oregon nonprofits.

They argue the money could be better invested in other water-focused projects and research, particularly since juniper removal already receives funding from other government sources.

The bill’s opponents say HB 3142 also lacks sufficient “sideboards” for protecting “old growth” juniper trees and for ensuring the best environmental outcomes.