This package contains litter mass loss data from a litter decomposition experiment at the Jornada Basin LTER. To assess the role of soil-litter mixing (SLM) in aridland litter decomposition, litterbags were deployed in the Chihuahuan Desert and interrelationships between vegetation structure, SLM, and rates of decomposition were quantified. Vegetation structure was manipulated at the experimental plots to simulate losses of grass cover from livestock grazing and shrub encroachment. Measured variables include mass loss, and chemistry of litter incubated on sites with experimental reductions in grass cover (0 to 100% removals) over a 30-month period. This dataset contains the mass-loss data (including ash-corrections) from the experiment. This study is complete.