Eastern red cedar, a middle sized conifer with a pyramidal shape, is native to the Eastern United States. Due to strong resilience towards various soil and climate conditions, eastern red cedar has become an invading species on the prairies, which has aggressively spread to the Midwest states. For example, in Oklahoma, more than seven million acre land is covered by eastern red cedar . The invasion of eastern red cedar leads to severe impacts on the local ecosystems, such as loss of native plants and birds, reduction of forage production and livestock handling, impacts on soil hydraulic properties . Last but not least, eastern red cedar contains chemical compounds that burn rapidly which makes it a susceptible to forest fire. Currently the best control available to prevent eastern cedar from encroaching the prairies is cutting the trees and then burning them.
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