Stimulus funds being used to burn the Eastern Red Cedar

[Steve Roberts]

The State of Oklahoma is using $100,000 dollars of Stimulus money to burn the Eastern Red Cedar. Here is a link to the news article. http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=11569642. Comments………….

[Trace One]

looks like a great idea to me..In connecticut, it is the barberry – common ornamental, but what an incredible invasive..really nasty understoyr plant, also..
thanks pres obama – great use – hopefully looks like will get some jobs out of it as well..

[Boilerplater]

So I guess in Oklahoma they aren’t a “field succession” tree like they are in the northeast? There it is part of the stages when old farm fields revert back to hardwood forest. Are you hinting that harvesting for use in furniture would be a better use? $100K is such a miniscule bit of the stimulus. Not worth making a stink about.

[Steve Roberts]

Well I really just think the whole thing is a tragedy. How many jobs did “The Nature Conservancy” create with that grant? Why are they going after a native tree? I do believe the Eastern Red Cedar is a field succession tree. Trees are what clean the air we breath, not grasses? How is burning a tree creating green jobs? I am not a fan of “Prescribed Burning” in the name of restoring Nature and eco-systems. The only tree that I am aware of that needs fire to survive is the Longleaf Pine. The best way to protect Nature is to leave it be. It always results in a travesty when man decides to play “God”. It is really just a waste of time, energy, and good money. If you were one of the ones like me laid-off from this economy you would probably think that it is a waste too. There has to be something better to do with the money, and a better way to manage the tree and it’s resources.

[Boilerplater]

Are they trying to restore a priairie ecosystem or something along those lines? I know that even though a species may be native, it may not be endemic to the ecosystem they are trying to restore, so they try to eliminate it. When I did habitat retoration work in NJ we would use E. Red Cedars…turned out to be hard to get in the nursery trade as they have little ornamental value.
Hey, I was laid off due to the economy too. This is obviously giving someone a job. If you want to see waste look at the Pentagon’s budget. $100K wouldn’t pay for a year at my last position including health insurance and office expenses.

[Mike G]

Prescription burns are one of the most efficient and cost effective tools that land managers have to use. And…have been using for thousands of years. In many areas grasslands are man-made ecosystems the plants and animals have adapted to.
Even today we don’t even come close to using fire for its maximum potential in the landscape (in managing soil and vegetation). Both trees and grasses are important components in the ecosystem. Trees will sequester carbon in to bio-mass (above ground), grasses sequester carbon into the soil (below ground). This is very important because it is long term carbon storage that conditions the soil (great for erosion prevention, H2O infiltration, protecting bio-diversity, etc…). All very important for maintaining ‘Ecosystem Services’ a term we do not use as much as we should.
However Steve brings up a good point; the Stimulus funds are another story….It makes you wonder how many jobs were actually created from this ‘package’. From this article it seams the money was used for educational outreach and purchasing equipment on private lands. The Stimulus Package was meant to stimulate jobs and the economy. It doesn’t seam much in the way of paying jobs will be created here. On top of that by training homeowners and private landowners to burn their own properties or creating more NFPs is more capital detracted from going to private employment? (ie innovative entrepreneurial small businesses that provide benefits, security, and a tax base?) It’s no wonder that we don’t see as many ‘green’ jobs out there.
For the record Amur Honeysuckle is one of the worst invasives in my area of the country; and I personally hope to cut as much of it down in my lifetime as I possibly can. Prairie Chickens good / honeysuckle bad. -Mike

[Trace One]

these are teeny trees, you can’t talk about harvesting them..I love the red cedar,but will not comment on it’s invasive status in this landscape..I do not know the landscape ..In long island, the tiger salamander is endangered..In virginia, it is common.. This project kept jobs in the nature conservancy, if not creating new jobs..How can you complain about that? Don’t cedars also change the pH of the soil..
It’s true, in the east they are not invasive – they are successional, their front-line status providing sites for birds to drop additional seeds, as well as shade for hardwoods to grow..
More information necessary to determine if this is a good project or not..
and I have learned, it is true, even the revered Nature Conservancy buys and sells land for profit..Man I got disillusioned with them, a while back..
More information necessary..but would rather some attempt at environmental activism than bombs or ‘roads to nowhere.”

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