To the west, the landscape is dotted with small trees. Junipers and pinyon pines live side by side in the most common plant community on the Colorado Plateau: the pinyon-juniper woodland. Junipers have overlapping scale-like leaves and light blue berries, which are actually tiny cones covered in a waxy coating. Every juniper is unique. Some are bushy, others appear to be half dead with bare twisting branches. To conserve water, the tree self-prunes, cutting off nutrients to some branches to ensure the survival of the tree. How do they obtain enough water in this very dry desert? An immense root system can account for two thirds of a tree’s mass. The main taproot can extend up to 25 feet underground and lateral roots may stretch up to 100 feet from the trunk. With the help of these adaptations, a juniper can live to be 700 years old, providing delectable berries to generations of rabbits, coyotes, and birds over its lifespan.
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Itineraries across USA
Acadia
Arches National Park
Badlands
Big Bend
Biscayne
Black Canyon Of The Gunnison
Bryce Canyon
Canyonlands
Capitol Reef
Carlsbad Caverns
Channel Islands
Congaree
Crater Lake
Cuyahoga Valley
Death Valley
Dry Tortugas
Everglades
Gateway Arch
Glacier
Grand Canyon
Grand Teton
Great Basin
Great Smoky Mountains
Guadalupe Mountains
Haleakalā
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes
Hot Springs
Indiana Dunes
Isle Royale
Joshua Tree
Kenai Fjords
Kobuk Valley
Lassen Volcanic
Mammoth Cave
Mesa Verde
Mount Rainier
North Cascades
Olympic
Petrified Forest
Pinnacles
Rocky Mountain
Saguaro
Shenandoah
Theodore Roosevelt
Virgin Islands
Voyageurs
White Sands
Wind Cave
Yellowstone
Yosemite
Zion