Over the past few weeks, the State of Utah and other organizations have taken to the airwaves and Internet to bolster support for vegetation removal projects on Bureau of Land Management-managed public lands in Utah. While these efforts are big on assertions and anecdotal evidence, the actual projects lack scientific support in the vast majority of cases.

We think it’s important for the public to understand the lack of scientific consensus, risk, and uncertainty involved with these large-scale surface-disturbing projects. To this end, this 2013 report of existing scientific literature, compiled by the Wild Utah Project—an organization committed to “providing science-based strategies for wildlife and land conservation”—is an important read for anyone interested in the history and state of the science surrounding this controversial topic.

Don’t let the title “Mechanical treatment of pinyon-juniper and sagebrush systems in the intermountain West: A review of the literature” scare you. This report is easily digestible and addresses common assumptions underlying projects to remove pinyon-juniper forests and sagebrush stands, and highlights areas where proponents of vegetation removal are sorely lacking a scientific basis. Enjoy!

Also be sure to check out our cover story on chaining in the Spring 2018 issue of Redrock Wilderness.