"In ancient times, cedar wood was especially desirable for its aromatic qualities as well as its resistance to decay and bugs. Lebanon was known for its magnificent cedars and was once heavily forested with them. Cedar was a major export and source of wealth, although, in more recent years, Lebanon has faced deforestation. Even today, the image of a cedar tree is found on the Lebanese national flag."
The Cedars of Brookings County occupy a place of ambivalence for me. I've planted thousands as winter protection for wildlife. Pheasants will roost in their branches at night protected from wind and ground based predators such as coyotes and fox. Deer bask in the sun on the southside of cedars protected from the north wind. Birds thrive on eating cedar berries and defecate the seeds far and wide.
Thousands of small cedars have invaded the grassland sown to native prairie grasses. Those trees left undisturbed would soon transform the grassland into conditions unsuitable for ground nesting birds such as pheasants, field-sparrows and bobolinks. This is why I spent the morning doing stoop labor, snipping off the cedars at ground level. Coniferous trees, cut off below the bottom branch, do not re-sprout unlike deciduous trees. If there were bison available, and adequate fencing, they'd root out the cedars, but lacking them, it fell to me to do the labor. A morning of that was quite enough.
Takk for alt
Al
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