Best Management Practices for Controlling Eastern Redcedar
Farming and over-use by livestock fragmented the landscape and thus stopped large-scale fires. This resulted in a rapid landscape change from open stands of trees with a tallgrass understory in forested areas to unproductive, closed canopy forests. In prairies and shrublands, fire suppression resulted in an increase in both fire-tolerant woody plants (resprouters) and fire-intolerant woody plants such as eastern redcedar and ashe juniper. This fact sheet discusses maintenance practices to prevent eastern redcedar from invading prairies, shrublands, riparian zones, forest, and introduced pastures. The most economically and ecologically sound tool to maintain and restore landscapes is prescribed fire . Also discussed in the fact sheet is mechanical control of eastern redcedar, restoration practices to control both light and heavy infestations, and firewise principles.