Wanted! Mountain Cedars: Dead and Alive

by Elizabeth McGreevy, Sarah Cortez (Editor), Jessica Bithrey (Editor)

Overview

Wanted! Mountain Cedars, Dead and Alive tells the story of Mountain Cedar trees that grow in the Texas Hill Country. Over the last 100 years, these trees have been characterized as non-native, water-hogging, grass-killing, toxic, useless species to justify their removal. The result has been a glut of Mountain Cedar tall tales and anti-cedar sentiments. Inside this ambitious, well-researched book, natural resources planner and ecologist Elizabeth McGreevy presents another perspective of these trees, also known as Ashe Junipers or Blueberry Junipers. While digging into Texas Hill Country politics, history, economics, culture, and ecology, McGreevy tracks down the origins of each tall tale to determine what is true, what is false, and what lies somewhere in between. She also explains why people respected Mountain Cedars before the 1900s, and what events led to the trees' downfall and the landscape we see today. Through a series of arguments, this book serves to replace anti-cedar sentiments with a more constructive, less emotional approach to Hill Country land management and a perspective that not all Mountain Cedars are bad.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780578843322
Publisher:	Spicewood Publications
Publication date:	05/06/2021
Pages:	608
Sales rank:	22,644
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.35(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth McGreevy is a natural resources planner, writer, and public speaker. A sixth-generation Texan, McGreevy has produced ecology-based development and management plans in the Texas Hill Country for more than twenty years. McGreevy obtained a master’s degree from Texas A&M University in landscape architecture with a focus on environmental planning, landscape ecology, and cultural geography. She also holds an undergraduate degree in biology from Randolph College in Virginia and is a certified permaculture planner. McGreevy can be reached through her website, landsteward.net.

Table of Contents

Foreword

 

INTRODUCTION

The Trees We Love to Hate

 

PAST AND PRESENT

1             A Cedar Only in Name

2             Pioneering Thickets Are Not Cedar Brakes

3             The Hill Country Focus

4             Historically, A Respected Tree

5             The Golden Period Ends

6             Fall From Grace

7             The Curse of Cedar Fever

 

DEBUNKING THE TALL TALES

8             Tall Tale: Cedars Are Not Native

9             Tall Tale: Historically, Cedars Were Not Common

10           Tall Tale: Cedars Are Just Bushes

11           Tall Tale: Cedars Are Short Lived

12           Tall Tale: Cedars Are Highly Flammable

13           Tall Tale: Cedars Are Invasive

14           Tall Tale: Cedars Cause Soil Erosion

                   Is Grass Better than Cedar?

15           Tall Tale: Nothing Grows Under Cedars

16           Tall Tale: Cedars Are Water Hogs

                   Warring Over Water

17           Tall Tale: Cedars Are Choking Our Oaks

                   How Deep Do They Suck?

18           Tall Tale: Cedars Intercept Most Rains

19           Tall Tale: Cedars Dried Up Our Springs

20           Tall Tale: Clearing Cedars Increases Gravity Springs 

21           Tall Tale: Clearing Cedars Recharges Aquifers

 

RETHINKING THE MOUNTAIN CEDAR

22           Mountain Cedars Benefit Soils and Springs

23           Basic Strategies to Get Started

24           Reducing Fire Risk without Over-Clearing

25           Using to Offset Management Costs

                   The World-famous Texas Cedarwood Oil

 

CONCLUSION

Learning from Mountain

 

Appendix A: Karst Geology Basics

Appendix B: Plants that Grow Under Cedars

Appendix C: How Cedar Charcoal Was Made

Glossary

Acknowledgements

End Notes

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

Wanted! Mountain Cedars is an eye-opening game changer for those willing to read with an open and reasoned mind — but be prepared to have some sacred cows challenged. McGreevy masterfully dissects the false and misleading notions about Mountain Cedars that have become etched into traditional thinking and she enlightens with science-based logic augmented by her years of personal observation and study. Readers will never look at Mountain Cedars the same way again.

author, Your Remarkable Riparian - Steve Nelle

Call it what you want — Mountain Cedar, Ashe juniper — no writer has done the deep dive like Elizabeth McGreevy has on this misunderstood brush that happens to be the source of that allergy hell called Cedar Fever. Whatever you think you know about Mountain Cedars, this book will make you think again.

co-author, Generations on the Land: A Conservation Legacy - Joe Nick Patoski

Wanted! Mountain Cedars offers an in-depth examination of the history, biology, ecology, and cultural issues associated with a species that is the subject of much controversy in Texas. While extolling the virtues of the tree, considered by some to be just a noxious bush, Elizabeth McGreevy dispels many of the myths associated with the species. This book could be read by every Texas landowner, land manager, and naturalist.

author, The Natural History of Texas - Brian R. Chapman