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Overgrown Cedars- what to do with them?

lv2hntnfsh

lv2hntnfsh

Member
Hi guys,

I have a 5ish acre finger on my farm that has large cedars and they are rather thick. The understory is dead and thick with low branches. While there are a few trails the use seems sparse by the deer -even in winter, I never found sheds in them.

A couple of options I have pondered are:

1. Going thru and clearing out the lower branches to allow more room for the deer. I could “hinge” cut a few around the edges to keep the seclusion and wind break.

2. Lighting them up and letting the finger start over- not even sure how to go about this, it sounds fun but probably highly risky.

Has anyone else dealt with a similar habitat improvement?




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I'll take a stab, I am not sure if I am visualizing exactly what you have, but...that could be a prime bedding site for you. If the finger is in an area that you would prefer that deer bed in, then I would probably cut out a bunch, but not all, of the cedars and pile them up somewhere or burn them to get rid of them. I would limb the remaining cedars up to about 5'-6' off the ground and then let the grass grow back in the area. I would leave one cedar every 10 to 20 yards or so.

Deer love to bed in grass, next to or underneath cedars...especially seasonally if the area is south facing. If you limb the remaining cedars up high then even when/if you do run a fire through the area you shouldn't catch them on fire. (Now then, if you have taller switchgrass in there, you would need to limb even higher.) If you hinge them and then run a fire through it some day those hinged cedars will burn up fast...and I don't think you would want that in this case.

Dense stands of cedars are normally deer deserts in my experience...because there isn't any ground cover. If you shift it to sort of "cedar savannah" area it will be well used IMO.
 
If you can isolated the area I would light a fire. Next step after that would change depending on what you want this area to be.
 
Go through and cut a few out for paths. Get them to go in and out of this where you can place a stand. Cut out a few of the lower branches and then make some beds. I got the same problem on one of my properties and will be doing the same come the spring.
 
We had a forester out to my parents farm and they have some of these exact areas. He recommended to try and removed some to get light back in. But then the issue comes of what do you do with all these cedars....So my plan is start small, take a few out this winter and limb some of the trees that i leave. Then cut those trees up and remove them. Then do a few more the next year and so on...It looks to be an extremely daunting task but i really like cutting things and i guess anything worth having is worth the work....
 
We have some similar situations and the guys above nailed it. It can be a daunting task. We have an area on our farm that used to be a deer sanctuary and fill up with deer in the winter, now it's a ghost town come winter. I've limbed cedars, which worked well, and then once they were limbed I could easily girdle them to kill them and allow sunlight in without having to hinge or cut them down and have them block up the forest floor. The skeletons will stand for years but at least sunlight is able to reach the forest floor again. Some day we'll likely light this area on fire just one time, if the standing skeletons are slow to break down and let the process start over again.
 
This is good to hear that I am not the only one with the situation and there are some good ideas to be tried!

The finger is surrounded by CRP and off the tip is a 3.5 acre food plot.

My goal would get it back to young low cedars as the rest of the property is pretty diverse.

My issue is only time (kids and family are #1) so I was looking for an easy out. I probably do not have time to cut them all down and move them out of the way, but I can go through and cut some lower branches and girdle them. Then I can take care of them as I have time and possibly get a head start on the new growth.

Let me know if what you guys said was translated correctly or if there are any other good ideas!

Thanks!


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lv2hntnfsh said:
My issue is only time (kids and family are #1) so I was looking for an easy out. I probably do not have time to cut them all down and move them out of the way, but I can go through and cut some lower branches and girdle them. Then I can take care of them as I have time and possibly get a head start on the new growth.
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That's my exact scenario as well, just not enough time but this was the quickest way to make some work
 
Missouri offers cost share for this type of project allowing the hiring of a skid loader to pile them up for a good weinie roasting bonfire. Maybe Iowa has a program?
 
EQIP offers cost share on cedar removal. Running about $160.11 per acres on areas with greater than %60 canopy cover from cedars. Pays about $495.00 per acre if you are willing to seed natives and burn 2 years after removal. Just stop into your local NRCS field office.
 
Asclepias said:
EQIP offers cost share on cedar removal. Running about $160.11 per acres on areas with greater than %60 canopy cover from cedars. Pays about $495.00 per acre if you are willing to seed natives and burn 2 years after removal. Just stop into your local NRCS field office.
Click to expand...

That’s a good option
 
I worked with my private land biologist on getting it set up in MO. We sold that farm so we didn't end up doing the project.
 
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