I knew they were invasive, but I had no idea they were water hogs.

Wow. I knew they were thirsty but this put it in perspective:
" First, this tree takes up about 20 percent of all the acreage in Oklahoma. The average grass prairie lets about 15 percent of the rain pass through the land - into streams and reservoirs - which turns into our drinking water.
That's called water yield. Researchers say water yield for red cedar is only 2 to 5 percent."
Thanks for posting this!

Carol, Thanks for linking that great article.

We spend part of every year removing cedar, but it tries just as hard to come back. You really have to be persistent, because the birds drop seeds everywhere. In the places where we have removed cedar, the native grassland plants slowly returned on their own, but that first year or two after the trees were cut down, we just had big bare spots where nothing would grow---almost like the soil was poisoned. I was worried recovery wouldn't occur, but it did.

Whenever this topic pops up, I like to lin the website of Mr. and Mrs. Bamberger's Selah Ranch in Texas as an example of how removing cedar trees can completely change a plant community and the wildlife that depend upon it. The Bambergers bought a ranch heavily infested with ashe juniper and then, as they removed the cedars (the ranch is several thousand acres so it took a while), an amazing transformation took place. They did speed up the transformation by replanting native grasses themselves instead of waiting for years to see if the grasses would come back on their own. Springs returned, wildlife thrived, etc. If you read the "In the Beginning" before and after tale on their website, you'll see what a difference it made for them to take out those cedar trees.

Just imagine how we could transform the state of Oklahoma if everyone would get rid of at least 80-90% of the cedar trees on their property.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: The Bamberger's Selah Ranch