Favoring sunshine and semi-arid soil, junipers are found throughout Colorado, from High Plains escarpments to the canyon walls of the Colorado Plateau; they generally occupy elevations between 5000 and 8000 feet but may grow as high as 9000 feet on south-facing slopes west of the Divide. Rocky Mountain junipers (western red cedars) are found throughout this range while Utah junipers are limited to the Western Slope; one seed junipers, oval-shaped and shrub-sized, are closely associated with pinon pine woodlands and are thus common across southern and western Colorado. Finally, eastern junipers (known as eastern red cedars) are widely planted along the Front Range urban corridor.
While adding diversity to any landscape, junipers are especially appealing since they attract a wide variety of wildlife. Elk, deer and pronghorn browse on their foliage and their fruit (small, berry-like cones) is consumed by a large number of birds and small mammals. In addition, the dense foliage of these trees offers shelter from the cold wind and heavy snows of winter, another trait that appeals to our native wildlife.
Fortunately, we have a large number and variety of junipers on our Littleton farm, attracting a diverse group of visitors, especially during the colder months of the year. Townsend's solitaires, bohemian waxwings, cedar waxwings and the more common fruit-eating birds (robins, house finches, jays, magpies, doves) regularly grace the scene; western tanagers also brighten the junipers during their spring migration.
