The City of Edmond’s Urban Forestry Department will begin harvesting eastern red cedar trees later this week from City owned property just north of Gracelawn Cemetery. This property is the proposed future location for cemetery expansion.

A selection of eastern red cedar trees will be chipped to provide beneficial mulch for trees and landscapes planted throughout Edmond’s street medians. The project will save the City money, as cutting then chipping the cedar trees can be done at a lower cost than buying mulch commercially.

“Providing trees with a layer of mulch is an important step to keeping our public trees healthy” says Leigh Martin, Edmond’s Urban Forestry – Program Specialist. “A broad area of mulch over the tree’s rooting areas will greatly enhance the amount of water in the soil. The additional soil moisture will help sustain the trees through periods of drought as we have been experiencing periodically here in Edmond.”

This project also provides the very important benefit of managing the spread of eastern red cedars within local forest and prairie ecosystems. The red cedar tree removal will help maintain and reclaim areas where native grasses or other types of tree cover are the preferred vegetation.

###