This morning we feature a few updates from harvest crews as well as a piece on land management, written by Clear Creek Ranch Mom Leah Peterson. LISTEN IN! By Leah Peterson The eastern red cedar is an invasive species, with only one goal in mind. To take over, and ingest every available resource it can suck out of the land. It is quickly spreading and will soon overtake the last stronghold of intact grasslands of Nebraska, in our beloved Sandhills. In my opinion, the cedars have the power to destroy the ranching industry of Nebraska. They are even pretty good at destroying relationships, as evidenced by how people are talking to each other on social media this week, especially in the aftermath of devastating wildfire. While there are many available options used to manage them, the truth is that busy and strapped landowners choose to look the other way, and have done so for a long time. Or have found other reasons and situations that led to the neglect of management. Because of that, our grasslands are now in crisis. The facts ARE that land infested with cedars becomes way more difficult to manage when fire breaks out. They burn hot, they explode and send embers into the atmosphere, and they can smolder and reignite over weeks, and even months. Everyone is allowed an opinion on how to manage them. All I will say, is that people need to quit talking about them, and do something to help wage the war against them. Cost share programs are available, but the hard truth is that this battle requires way more than what they offer. It requires the intestinal will to win. Our last stand, across the Great Plains will include battles over water, working lands, and the resistance against those things that will take them from us. If we want to be respected as stewards of the land, it begins with shovels, chainsaws, gloves, drip torches, plans, prescriptions and the thought that is our obligation to leave things better than we found them.
