Kansas’ Red Cedars Threaten Ecosystem
By AP Wire Service
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Some native Kansans are causing all kinds of problems for their home state.
Researchers and other experts say the Eastern red cedar trees across much of the state are threatening the water supply, costing ranchers millions of dollars and displacing wildlife.
And the problem is only going to get worse, they say, unless ranchers and state officials start paying attention.
“If you ever take a drink of water, or have any interest in wildlife or the rural economy, you’d better be concerned about cedars,” said Terry Bidwell, an Oklahoma State University researcher. “If Kansans aren’t concerned now, they’re dang sure going to be in a few years.”
The red cedars are the lone native evergreen in Kansas. For centuries, they were found only on rocky bluffs where they escaped fires started by lightning or American Indians trying to grow better grass for game.
When Europeans began settling the area, they fought the fires, which are a natural part of the grasslands. And the government encouraged planting cedars for windbreaks and wildlife habitat. Thousands, if not millions, of cedar saplings were distributed.
Songbirds continue to help the spread by eating the cedar berries, then depositing them through waste.
“We’re (now) in the midst of a red cedar population explosion in Kansas,” the state forester, Ray Aslin, said.
Cedars are built to take more than their share of water, which is bad news in a state suffering water shortages in many areas.
The thick, evergreen canopy of a cedar can stop 65 percent of a rainfall from reaching the topsoil and aquifer. And cedar root systems often stretch twice as far as a tree’s broad drip line.
A Texas study done on junipers, a family member of red cedars, said one 15-foot tree can consume 35 gallons of water a day.
“Junipers are already causing problems for San Antonio,” said Bidwell, who has studied the trees for 20 years. “Oklahoma City is going to have to get interested in cedar control. They get their water from Canton Reservoir, and that watershed is getting covered up with red cedars.”
Cedars also harm rangelands, where they soak up ponds and springs.
“I can show you springs that went from dry to really flowing after we cut about 95 percent of the cedars,” said Don Queal, a tree harvester in Pratt. “We finished one Saturday, and the water was flowing the next Saturday. It happens that quick.”
Cedars often grow 10 feet to 30 feet across, allowing little or no grass growth beneath. Many roots are shallow, robbing grass of rainwater and leaving white, straw-like growth.
“White grass is bad grass,” said Ed Koger, a rancher who has battled cedars for years. “It look likes something, but when it comes to cattle feed, there’s not much there.”
The trees also hurt populations of some wild animals, such as lesser prairie chickens.
“Some birds native to the prairie are what we call ‘birds of broad horizons,’ ” said Randy Rodgers, a small-game biologist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. “They do not tolerate vertical structures, whether it’s trees or man-made. We assume they do it to avoid predators that may use them for perches.”
Bidwell said Oklahoma’s cedar invasion is tied to decreasing quail populations.
In Kansas, the trees are spreading from spots in the Red Hills and the Flint Hills’ edges.
But it is relatively simple to stem the problem.
“Once you cut that tree below the lowest living branch, or burn them when they’re small, they’re dead, period,” said Ted Alexander, a Barber County rancher. “After that you just have to stay on them by burning your grasslands every few years. It ain’t hard. It’s the way nature intended it to be.”
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