Invasives: Clearing cedars trees in KC

A group in KC has found a way to clear habitats of red cedars,which tend to overtake everything, and enhance holidays for families here. They sell the cedars as "fresh-cut Christmas trees" for a small donation. This way they get help clearing the trees and a few dollars, too.

http://www.kcwildlands.org/redcedarchristmastreeday.html

 

Juniperus virginiana?

 

Yes. It is a strange case of a native plant getting out of hand because there are no longer fires to keep them in check, I understand. An open field will fill in with J. virginiana quickly, destroying prairie habitats and also upsetting woodland areas.

 

There were more than 240 j. virginianas removed from the park/prairie area and more than $2,400 raised for KC Wildlands, an environmental advocacy group, I have read. It was a one-day event.

 

What a wonderful idea to deal with an invasive and raise money for a good cause at the same time! We should all be doing more of this in my opinion. I didn't realize the extent of this problem with this plant. Thanks for raising my awareness.

Les

 

So, really it might be a problem with fire suppression changing an existing dynamic (forest - represented by junipers - vs. grassland) in a way that is now being considered undesirable. Out here the intermountain west has a problem with fuelwood buildup and "overgrowth" of successional Douglas fir resulting directly from a long period of a Smokey Bear policy (blanket fire suppression, without regard to role of fire in development and maintenance of forests being managed).

Climate change also has effects, treasured subalpine flower meadows are starting to be lost to forest expansion resulting from warming of the climate.

 

Ron B this has been so controversial in Canada's arctic (and maybe elsewhere?). I sat as a Technical Advisor on Boards in the 80s when government practices changed from "fighting" fires to recognizing that lightning caused forest fires are a part of the life of a forest and we moved to "managing forest fires". At that time it was a really hard call to allow the forest around Virgina Falls and certain river systems to burn however it is the natural cycle of a forest. These were unnhabited areas but it should be noted that many areas under threat now are inhabited which puts a completely different spin on allowing fires to burn (thinking of you CA friends). I'm interested to hear from those currently involved in forest management.

Les