NONECONOMIC brushy vegetation infests milHons of acres of rangeland in the Southwestern United States. This investigation was conducted to determine the hydrologic effects of controlling the brush chemically or mechanically. In the Blackland Prairie of Texas, two small watersheds infested with honey mesquite were selected for this study. The mesquite on one watershed was killed with chemicals. Killing the mesquite reduced evapotranspiration about 8 cm per yr and increased surface runoff about 10 percent. In the Edwards Plateau of Texas, two watersheds infested with brush were used to determine the hydrologic effects of mechanical methods of brush control. Root plowing to remove the brush on one watershed reduced surface runoff about 20 percent.
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Richardson et al. (1979) studied this question.
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