Down here in Oklahoma, the Eastern Red Cedarhas escaped its natural habitat and been released from being under control with the repression of fire across the landscape decades and decades ago. This has lead to the cedars invading the prairies and outcompeting native deciduous trees in forested parts of the state. MDC is probably just trying to regain control of the cedars across the state. Multiple research studies have shown that with the reintroduction of fire through prescribed burning will control the spread of cedars and improve the quality of deer, quail, and turkeys. That's just my two cents. You should have gone straight to MDC with question first though, since they are the ones who wanted the cedars removed in the first place; half of their job isinteracting with the public andinforming the public on what they are doing and why?

Normally I would have. However in this case I think the landowner is getting the wool pulled over his eyes by the guy living there. As I said, this guy is cutting them all down and then profitting from the harvest. The owner complained all deer season about not seeing the number of deer he was use to seeing and was wondering out loud to the rest of us.

I didn't want to jump in the middle, but when I was up there last month and saw how complete the decimation of the cedars was I changed my mind.

Just got off the phone with the local agent and got my answer.

They do intend to take out every cedar tree on the property to restore a glade/savannah habitat. They will also continue to control burn the area on an annual to semi-annual basis to keep them from returning.

He provided a lot more informationand offered to call in advance of the controlled burns so we could plan around them.

It sounded like they were going to be doing a lot of this statewide. They had had aburning program for several years, but it had taken a backseat lately. Once they stopped burning, the cedars were the first to take hold of those areas.

Glad ya got a good answer. Its good they are working to preserve habitat.