Nebraskaland

48 Nebraskaland • May 2024 properties. "Trees are like compound interest," said Russ Sundstrom, who has been ranching in the canyons south of Brady since 1993. "The worse it gets, the faster it goes." The problem is not unique. In the western United States, woody plants have increased on 108 million acres of grassland, an area more than twice the size of Nebraska, since 1999. In the Great Plains, the loss of grassland to woody encroachment is nearly equal to losses to land conversion for agriculture. The problem is progressing from south to north and east to west. Nebraska is on the edge of that advance. The list of problems caused by encroachment is a long one. Compared to the many species of sun-loving grasses and forbs that typically would grow in prairie, few, if any, plants grow in the dense shade below cedars. More cedars means less grass for cattle. In some areas where cedars have displaced grass, landowners have been slow to adjust stocking rates and overgraze their pastures, further stressing the native vegetation and allowing non-native plants like cheatgrasses and smooth brome to invade. It also reduces available habitat for grassland wildlife. Grassland bird populations, including the greater prairie- chicken, bobwhite quail, grasshopper sparrows and Bell's vireo, declined, as did the overall number of species. Mule deer and wild turkeys were displaced by the trees. Even insects, like the endangered American burying beetle, were aff ected. Cedars deplete soil moisture, groundwater recharge and stream fl ow. With no grass to slow runoff , erosion on cedar- choked hills can be severe, reducing downstream water quality. Fewer acres of grass on School Trust Land reduces what can be charged for grazing leases on that land, which means less funding for schools. And the severity of wildfi res increases where cedars are present, putting lives and property at risk. A wildfi re south of Gothenburg in 2002 burned 40,000 acres. The Epiphany By the time landowners in the Loess Canyons realized how big the problem was, it was almost too late. The region had become one of the most cedar-infested in the state. But they attacked it anyway. Initial eff orts focused on cutting, piling and burning trees. But they made little headway, and eff orts were costly. Where landowners did cut, the soil disturbance led to ideal conditions for seeds to germinate, and a new fl ush of cedars sprouted, creating a stand often thicker than the one that had been removed. All the while, cedars were sprouting in the seemingly tree-free pasture behind them. Prescribed fi re was already being used in areas of eastern Nebraska and elsewhere to control cedars in grasslands. Doug Whisenhunt of the Natural Resources Conservation Service wondered if fi re could also control mature trees in the Eastern red cedar is a prolifi c seed producer, one factor contributing to their spread. Mule deer will utilize cedar trees for escape and thermal cover but prefer wide-open grasslands. They have benefi tted from cedar control in the Loess Canyons. Wild turkeys will abandon roosts in hardwood trees when cedars overtake the understory. They fi nd more insects to eat in grasslands than cedar-choked pastures.

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