38 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN March 2024 COMBATING WOODY ENCROACHMENT JESSICA WESSON | CONTRIBUTING WRITER In the last 40 years, researchers have studied the loss of grassland ranges to woody encroachment. One of the biggest problem species is the eastern red cedar. Dirac Twidwell, professor and rangeland ecologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), has years of experience researching the woody encroachment issue. “Eastern red cedar is considered enemy No. 1,” Twidwell says. “It’s the most broadly distributed conifer in North America, and it’s the one that is displacing the most grassland in the Great Plains.” The spread of the eastern red cedar is a sign of the systematic problem that woody encroachment imposes. “Nebraska lost 42,000 tons of rangeland production to woody encroachment in 2019,” Twidwell says. “Cattlemen need to pay close attention to this problem because it threatens grassland their cattle might be grazing on.” Twidwell’s colleague agrees that woody encroachment is one of the leading causes of the decline of grasslands in Nebraska and other Great Plains states. Dillon Fogarty studied under Twidwell, and he is a research assistant professor at UNL. He says that a new research initiative has made woody encroachment easier to study and combat in the past few years. “In 2018 I was doing my Ph.D. and the Rangeland Analysis Platform was created,” Fogarty says. “That took rangeland vegetation data for every year since 1986 to the present and allowed us to ask questions on a large scale that weren’t possible before.” Before the Rangeland Analysis Platform, data was only available in small amounts. “It was the first time we could really tell whether our practices were sustainable or not,” Fogarty says. “We could see how fast we were losing rangeland, and it helped us learn a ton of information over a quick period of time. It also confirmed that we were losing the Great Plains to woody encroachment.” Managing Eastern Red Cedar There are two main methods for managing and eliminating eastern red cedar; some are more feasible than others. “We don’t have a lot of large-scale success in managing eastern red cedar and encroaching woody species,” Twidwell says. “We’ve spent tons of money trying to manage this issue over the last several decades, and a few methods might work for a producer, depending on their specific situation.” One of the best ways to eliminate eastern red cedar is through mechanical means. “Eastern red cedar is considered a non-resprouter, which means they won’t come back if you cut them down,” Twidwell says. “So, many people will use mechanical means when it’s financially sensible to do so.” However, it is not always the best option, depending on how severe the problem is within an operation. “Mechanical cutting can be cost prohibitive at large scales,” Fogarty says. “But mechanical means are a reasonable option if you have smaller patches. It’s also a great solution for bigger trees.” Another method for landowners to consider is a prescribed burn. Historically, this was how eastern red cedar was conPRODUCTION
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