BURNS (AP) — Crews chopped down hundreds of junipers last month to reduce the risk of range fires near the southeast Oregon community of Frenchglen.

But the federal project ignited unexpected criticism from the few people who live there. Some worry the community will have less protection from the summer sun; others simply preferred the way the place looked before the buzz cut.

“It looks terrible,” said Cindy Witzel, a resident of the unincorporated settlement roughly 60 miles south of Burns.

The crew working for the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Harney County, cut down the 15- to 20-foot junipers on about 600 acres, The Oregonian newspaper reported.

Besides reducing fire danger, the project gives Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep a better chance to avoid cougars, said Richard Roy, supervisory biologist for the wildlife refuge.

About 30 permanent residents live within 50 miles of Frenchglen, most of them ranching families and hired hands. The community, however, draws thousands of visitors each year. Business owners don’t think the tourists will like the new look.

“All I’m going to be doing all this next year is to hand out fliers the refuge gave me on why they are cutting down all the junipers,” said John Ross, operator of the 86-year-old Frenchglen Hotel.

Roy said he was “shocked” by the pro-juniper sentiment. The species sucks moisture from the desert and crowds out sagebrush, bunch grass and other plants. It causes erosion and eventually reduces wildlife habitat.

Junipers are also highly flammable.

“What kind of criticism would the agencies get from the public if we were to do nothing and a fire would come through and wipe out that community?”

Until a century ago, junipers tended to grow only on ridgetops and rocky outcroppings.

They began spreading after settlers began suppressing wildfires. “You take fire away, and this stuff starts moving into areas where it didn’t historically exist,” Roy said.

Oregon has about 5 million acres of mature juniper trees, and only 3 percent of that was here 100 years ago, said Tony Svejcar, lead scientist at an Oregon State University agricultural experiment station near Burns.

Efforts to find an economic use for junipers, such as furniture, have been largely unsuccessful.

“If there was an economic use for them, we could control them pretty readily,” said Judge Steven E. Grasty, chairman of Harney County’s Board of Commissioners.