The Cedar Problem in Central Texas
Ashe juniper — what everyone here just calls cedar — is the single most aggressive rangeland problem on the Edwards Plateau. Fire suppression and time let it spread from the draws out across open ground, and once it's dense it shades out grass, locks up your acreage, and hides everything you'd rather not have near the house. Left alone, it turns good land into an impenetrable wall in a handful of years.
Why Removing Cedar Is Worth It
- Recover water. A mature cedar can pull tens of gallons a day and its canopy intercepts a big share of your rainfall before it hits the ground. Thinning dense stands can put water back into your soil and springs. (The water-table breakdown here.)
- Reclaim pasture. Take cedar out and native grass has room and moisture to come back — more grazeable, usable acres.
- Cut fire risk. Cedar is a ladder fuel that carries ground fire into the canopy. Removing it builds defensible space. (More on wildfire defense.)
- Get your land back. Open, walkable ground you can fence, build on, hunt, or just enjoy.
How We Remove Cedar
Our primary tool is forestry mulching — the JCB grinds cedar down into a mulch layer in one pass, no burning and no hauling. Here's the part most folks don't know: cedar comes back from seed, not from stumps. Clearing opens sunny ground that's ideal for the next wave of seedlings, so the mulch layer matters — it helps shade out new seed — and so does what you do afterward.
Keeping It From Coming Back
Cedar doesn't stop growing in the off-season, so a one-time clearing is a start, not a finish. Our Clear & Keep plan puts your property on a scheduled maintenance program — we come back before seedling pressure compounds, so the cedar never rebuilds the wall. (Full detail on methods in our guide to slowing cedar regrowth.)
How CHEW Prices It
Cedar density is the single biggest thing that moves the price, which is exactly why per-acre numbers online are only a planning guide. We quote every job as a whole after a free on-site walk, give you one clear written number before any work begins, and a minimum job price applies. Text photos of the worst of it to 737-235-1335 and we can often give you a rough range before we drive out.
Common Questions
Will the cedar grow back after removal?
Some regrowth is natural — cedar seeds keep blowing in. Mulching slows it more than cutting, and a scheduled Clear & Keep plan is the practical way to stay ahead of it instead of letting it rebuild.
Can you remove cedar but leave my oaks?
Yes. Selective clearing — take the cedar, keep the mature oaks and pecans — is one of the most common jobs we do. Point them out at the walk.
Does clearing cedar really help my water?
On the right ground — shallow soils over limestone, dense cedar, near springs — field studies have shown measurable gains. It varies by site, which we cover honestly in this article.
What size cedar can you take down?
Mulching handles brush through small-to-mid cedar efficiently. Very large, old-growth trees fall outside what the machine takes; we'll flag those at the site visit and talk options.