A Compelling case for Dead Cedar

by Art Wilson

As the saying goes, mesquites are the ugly ducklings of trees in the hill country. I'd like to add, then, that cedars must certainly be the fire ants.


One thing about my grandpa, Arthur Fabra (DaDa) - he saw something good in almost everything in nature and everyone he met and, even if he didn't like some trait or quirk - he almost never said anything bad.  DaDa directed the few mean bones in his person almost totally toward certain plants and bugs: cedars were at the top of the list. I vividly remember him saying "Art, the only good cedar is a dead cedar".  I have pondered this comment for 60 years and here is my totally objective assessment.


The cedar tree (ash juniper in city slick-ese) really didn't start spreading widely over the hill country until the 1950's.  Up until then, cedar was primarily contained in cedar breaks.  Cedar breaks were typically in hilly and rocky areas where wildfires could not get to them.  Over time cedars spread through deposit of seeds from birds. They would cluster up, dominate the local area for awhile until a wildfire could come through and burn the smaller ones down.


Later, when there were fewer wildfires as the country was settled, the cedar began to spread to the lowlands and across the fields and hills. When left to their own, cedars were both suckers and killers.  Cedars, unchecked by fire, grow closely together - the individual trees tend to grow tall rather than big around so that they can suck up sunlight and 80% of the rainfall before it hits the ground from the top, while sucking water from the ground, completely blocking out sunlight and killing every living plant that tries to grow in its shade. Cedars can even kill the sturdy live oak tree.  Live Oak limbs naturally die whenever they are shaded by another limb.  Cedars, left uncontrolled sneak up around and over the young to middle aged oaks and actually kill them off, from the bottom limbs up.


My good friend, Jan Wrede, a leading botanist and author specializing in Hill Country flora has corrected me: that there actually is a few rare trees, such the Madrone, that will sometimes grow up under cedar.  She keeps looking for redeeming qualities of live cedars: a lifelong but futile quest for her as I am sure there could be no compelling reason to nurture a cedar..  Jan and I can agree that cedars are useful on some level, although I take the stance that cedars are mostly useful only upon being dead. A few of the many great uses of dead cedars are:


Cedar makes good logs for cabins... it won't rot and bugs won't eat it;


Cedar makes great fence posts... again, it won't rot - we're still using our cedar fence put in the ground at our farm in 1904; last


Cedar makes for the greatest fires. Tip before you burn: notify the fire department of your plans then: (1) cut the cedars and stack them; (2) wait until the green turns brown, but not until the foliage fall off; (3) be sure to park your vehicle and move all tools outside a 100 foot radius (4) pour some kerosene on, light the cedar (5) run fast.

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