04 October 2011

Cedar Removal Considerations on Sandhills Highways

During a recent trip through the sandhills, notes were kept on the situation regarding cedar trees along the some highways in the region. There were some places where there were no errant cedars. These locales presented a wonderful vista, which truly represented a sea of grass.

The following areas were otherwise, and details were provided to staff at the Nebraska Department of Roads so they can know of the problem and put sufficient effort into the task to get rid of the cedar trees.

  • along Highway 91 from Highway 2 at Dunning to Brewster; this was the worse condition of a roadside noted
  • Highway 97 north of Mullen, especially from the village to the county line
  • Highway 83 north of Thedford; most of the unwanted trees are to the southern extent, as upon getting into Cherry county there are only a few which mar the view. The grassland along this stretch is mostly tree of trees and by removing the relatively few trees present, this would create a wonderful vista of the grass scape.
  • Highway 2 west of Broken Bow; especially to Merna and Anselmo

Also, along Highway 20 from Cody to Merriman, there is perhaps one cedar tree along the highway that needs to still be removed. It would be gone now except a large enough saw was not available to remove it. Two other smaller cedars were recently cut to achieve the goal of having no invasive cedar trees.

In 2004, the Nebraska Department of Roads initiated a program to remove cedar trees in this region. There are some obvious successes for this effort, but the work needs to be actively continued.