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Articles and Reports
Pine Nuts: A Utah Forest Product
By Darren McAvoy, Utah State University Extension
This article describes Utah's pinyon nut industry. Utah has two pinyon species, the singleleaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla), which has needles arranged singly and produces a large, soft-shelled pine nut, and the Colorado pinyon (Pinus edulis), which has two needles per bundle and produces a smaller, hard-shelled pine nut. Most of the pine nuts offered at roadside stands in Utah are the soft-shelled variety.
By Leonard Sharashkin and Michael Gold, University of Missouri
This report describes the global pine nut industry and the potential for expanding the economic scope of the Southwest's pinyon nut industry.The pine nut market in the U.S.has a value of more than $100 million, but more than 80% of the pine nuts sold in the United States are imported from China. The price of imported pine nuts, however, is likely to increase in the near future owing to extensive logging of pine forests in Russia and China, as well as increasing local demand in both countries. As imports become more costly, it makes sense to invest in systems for managing pinyon trees as horticultural crops or to develop agroforestry systems for pinyon nut production.
Edited by Earl Aldon and Douglas Shaw.
This collection of papers describes the state of scientific knowledge about pinyon-juniper ecosystems as of 1993. It includes articles on the biological, social, and economic aspects of pinyon-juniper woodlands.
By M.D. Anderson
Online description of the biological and ecological characteristics of Pinus edulis, including a discussion of fire effects and management considerations for this species.
By K. Zouhar
Online description of the biological and ecological characteristics of Pinus monophylla, including a discussion of fire effects and management considerations for this species.
Websites
This website provides numerous resources on how to establish and maintain a variety of agroforestry systems.
This website contains numerous publications on pinyon-juniper ecosystems. The collection includes reports dating back several decades.
Explores the environmental history of the Colorado Plateau drawing from many scientific fields.
PJ-Wood: A Database of PJ Woodland Treatments
Contains scientific data on pinyon-juniper removal projects carried out on BLM lands on the Colorado Plateau since the 1950s.
Association for Temperate Agroforestry
Provides a wealth of information about agroforestry techniques for temperate forest ecosystems.
Projects
Pinyon Nut Orchards: An Agroforestry Experiment for Colorado
This project uses experimental agricultural techniques for arid lands to develop pinyon trees that will produce more and bigger seeds.
Four steps are involved:
1) Selection of superior trees from natural stands;
2) Grafting of these superior trees into orchards to produce genetically improved seed (pinyon nuts);
3) Field testing of these superior trees to identify the best trees and improve the orchard seed (cone and nut size) by removing inferior trees; and
4) Continued improvement and development of still-better varieties through interbreeding the best trees.
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