Alligator Juniper

Alligaor juniper is a tree species common in some parts of New Mexico.  As a desert plant, it grows slowly and it is not that common.  However, in some well watered locations alligator juniper can grow to useful size.  When these  old trees die ambitious wood cutters will get permits to cut them and saw them into lumber.  One individual in the SW part of New Mexico has used alligator jumiper planks to make beautiful bar tops. 

Most of the juniper which is cut is eventually used for fire wood.  However, I did read about one company in the Phoenix, AZ area that was chipping the logs and selling them by the bag as chips to use in your grill to flavor your food.

Are you a woodcrafter interested in making products from Alligator Juniper?  This site is part of the woodwebs.com network of sites and shows one example of a site and domain name that might help your business and sales.

Besides woodworking and handcrafted wood items I am also interested in southwestern Indian Art.  Many years ago we frequently traveled New Mexico and Arizona to find and buy Navajo Jewelry and Navajo rugs, Hopi pottery and Kachinas, and pueblo indian pottery.  We have made a start at publishing some of the Acoma Pottery and hope to expand and enlarge that website.

I found this alligator juniper growing just east of Albuquerque, NM.  It is on a north-east facing slope at about 8,000 feet in among a mixture of Pinon, and Ponderosa.  You can see where it gets its name.  You can click any picture to see a full size image.  The full size pictures are 960 x 1280 and run about half a meg each.

I was an ecologist many years ago so I thought this site would make a good introduction to an ecology reference collection.