Stop Those Cedar Trees - Song Page
©
from album Out on the Tallgrass Prairie
Album Note:
Many experts believe woody invasion is the greatest threat to the prairie today.
Eastern Red Cedars are a native Kansas tree, but in the past were controlled by wildfire. Now with reduced burning, cedars are invading at alarming rate. Also their growth rates are possibly encouraged by higher amounts carbon in our atmosphere.
Some mistakenly think cedars provide good wildlife habitat. In fact, they are wreaking havoc on native plants and animals. Worst of all, they are terribly water-consumptive, stealing moisture from prairie species.
Cedars can be controlled simply by early cutting of sprouts at ground level - no poison necessary. But left to grow, they reach huge sizes in a few years, blocking sun from prairie plants, making land worthless, and posing a terrible wildfire threat since they are especially flammable.
Before it’s too late, we need to stop those cedar trees!
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LYRICS
Long ago we lived in peace with native cedar trees.
They grew on cliffs and draws where fires could not reach.
Then European settlers stopped the fires that prairies need
And started an invasion of a million cedar trees.
You’ve seen ‘em from the roadside looking innocent & small,
Just tiny little Christmas trees - not too big at all.
Then just a few years later, they’ve grown up ten more feet.
In forty years they’ll form a solid forest canopy.
Each year we let ‘em grow, the danger will increase.
Before it’s too late, stop those cedar trees!
“Invasion of the water snatchers” some call their advance.
They drink up all the water, leaving none for prairie plants.
Thirty gallons every day a cedar tree sucks out.
Streams dry up as though the land were stricken by a drought.
They form a forest desert with just one type of tree,
Where once there was a prairie of vast diversity.
All the native plants and birds must die or move away.
The sweet song of the meadowlark no longer starts the day.
Each year we let ‘em grow, the danger will increase.
Before it’s too late, stop those cedar trees.
For water, grazing, wildlife,these cedars are a wreck,
Possibly the greatest threat to face the prairie yet.
The most important thing is to get ‘em when they’re small.
Or all you’ll have is cedars with no prairie left at all.
The good news is it doesn’t take some messy toxic sprays
To keep these doggone cedars from ruining your place.
Use nature’s way to stop ‘em – that’s a good hot prairie fire,
Or cut ‘em off right at the ground before they grow much higher.
But if you wait too long, they get too big to burn.
They’ll all grow up then wild-fire will be your big concern.
Their wood’s so full of oil, big cedars just explode.
Their fires can’t be stopped killing cattle, burning homes.
Each year we let ‘em grow, the danger will increase.
Before it’s too late, stop those cedar trees - while you still can.
Before it’s too late, stop those cedar trees!