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What full cedar clearing gets you
We take out the Ashe juniper and leave your oaks standing, with cedar clearing in San Antonio timed around warbler season and the oak wound window. Full clearing means every cedar on the tract, or on the section you’ve picked, comes out. It fits ground going back to pasture, a homesite on the way, or a lane meant to stop a fire.
Not every owner wants every cedar gone. If you’d rather keep some juniper for shade or cover, cedar thinning leaves part of the stand on purpose, picked out tree by tree. Either way, it’s forestry service work, and the first question’s the same one every time: which oaks are staying put?
Timing’s the part owners worry about, and they’re right to. Warbler habitat and live oaks each come with a calendar, and a good plan reads both before a start date’s set. Cedar growing in mature woods or around kept oaks tends to land in fall or winter for that reason. Cedar out in open pasture, away from habitat and kept oaks, isn’t tied to those months the same way.
Why cedar takes over Hill Country land
Mountain cedar is what a lot of Texans call this tree, and it doesn’t share well. It stays green all year, so a cedar brake, a dense stand of it, shades the ground in every season. Grass under that canopy thins out while needle litter and shredding bark build up in its place.
Birds eat the berries and drop the seed across open pasture, so new cedar keeps turning up wherever there’s room. Every one of those trees draws water the grass could’ve used. Live oak mottes, the clusters of oaks scattered across the land, get crowded in from the edges until the cedar’s taller than the young oaks.
Timing cedar work around golden-cheeked warblers
The golden-cheeked warbler nests in tall, mature juniper growing thick among oaks, so the calendar’s worth checking wherever cedar like that grows. USFWS sets its breeding season at March 1 through August 31. TPWD says selective juniper removal in or next to habitat belongs in the non-nesting period, a September to February window.
Comal County runs its own Regional Habitat Conservation Plan. In warbler habitat, it says clearing should be finished between August and February, and work must cease from March 1 to July 31. Joining that plan is voluntary, but federal Endangered Species Act compliance isn’t.
On Comal tracts in habitat, plan the cedar inside the county’s window. On Bexar, Kendall and Bandera ground near habitat, plan it for fall and winter. Whether your stand counts as habitat is a question for USFWS, or in Comal County its RHCP office, and we’ll name which one instead of guessing.
Protecting live oaks from wounds and oak wilt
Texas A&M Forest Service advises against wounding oaks from February through June, and says any wound should be painted right away, including ones land clearing leaves. A spring cedar job around live oak mottes and Spanish oaks lands in that riskiest stretch, and it doesn’t dodge warbler nesting season either.
The mulcher head stays off kept oaks, their low limbs and their exposed roots. The work’s satisfaction guaranteed, and that includes every flagged oak still standing when the machine rolls out. If an oak does get nicked anyway, the cut’s painted on the spot.
Signs cedar has taken over your land
- Grass thinning out under the junipers
- Oak mottes crowded in from the edges
- Views you used to have now walled off
- Cedar seedlings popping up in pasture
- A cedar brake too thick to walk through
- Needle litter where grass used to grow
Where full cedar clearing fits best
- Pasture you want back in grass
- A homesite or barn pad on the way
- A fire lane along a fence or road
- Old pasture lost to young cedar
- Views blocked by a wall of juniper
- Ground around kept oaks needing light
Mulching cedar instead of cutting and stacking
Cut-and-stack clearing leaves piles that need burning or hauling, and a county burn ban can freeze them in place. Mulching skips the pile, so the cedar’s finished when the machine leaves.
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Call with your months in mind
Tell Sarah the months you’re hoping for and whether the cedar’s tall, old growth, since both shape when work can start. She answers (210) 866‑3822 day or night, and se habla español.
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Show us the cedar stand
Send photos of the stand through the estimate form, with a map pin for acreage and the gate, and the estimate’s free. As your dirt work contractor, we’ll only ask for a site walk if the photos can’t show enough.
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Flag the oaks you’re keeping
Wrap tape around every live oak and Spanish oak that stays, young ones in the mottes included. Unmarked juniper comes out, so if you’d like a few cedars kept, say so now.
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Mulch the cedar where it stands
A compact track loader, the tracked cousin of a skid steer, runs a mulcher head that grinds each cedar down. It’s forestry mulching, and it leaves no stack to burn or haul.
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Walk it and watch the grass
Walk the cleared ground with us at the end. Grass recovery starts as sun hits soil the cedar kept shaded, and if you’re managing for wildlife, habitat restoration picks up from there.
Did you know?
One way land managers out West clear juniper is wonderfully blunt: two bulldozers drag a surplus Navy battleship anchor chain between them. One chain in Nevada runs 170 feet, weighs 12 tons, and each link’s about 90 pounds.
FAQs about cedar clearing in San Antonio
Before the cedar comes down
Take your photos from a spot where an oak and the cedar crowding it both show up in the frame. One wide shot and one close shot of the thickest stand tell us how tight the work’s going to be.
What happens to the cedar after it’s cleared?
It’s ground into chips right where it stood and left on the ground as cover. There’s no stacking and no truckload of brush leaving the gate. The odd trunk that’s too big for the head gets dropped with a saw and worked down in pieces.
Why is old cedar slower to clear than young cedar?
Old cedar has thicker trunks, heavier limbs and denser wood for the drum to chew through. Young cedar goes down quicker because there’s less wood in each tree.
Can you clear cedar right up to my fence line?
Yes, though the last few feet take more care. Old cedar sometimes grows right through the wire, so that trunk gets cut by hand close to the fence and the mulcher handles the rest. If the whole line’s buried in brush, fence line clearing is its own job.
What helps grass come back after cedar clearing?
Once the canopy’s gone, sunlight reaches soil that’s been shaded for years. Spreading the chips thin, instead of leaving deep mats, gives seed in the soil a chance to come up. Rain timing counts too, so ground cleared in fall or winter is often ready to green up when spring rain shows up.
Can you clear cedar while cattle are on the land?
Not in the pasture being worked. Chips and limbs fly off the drum, so stock need to be moved to another pasture or penned until the machine’s finished there. Gates left open between pastures are the other thing to sort out before work starts.
Is cedar clearing bad for deer and other wildlife?
It can be, if every bit of cover goes. Deer and birds use cedar for shelter, so owners managing for wildlife often keep strips along draws or go with thinning. Talk it through before work starts, because cedar that’s been mulched can’t be put back.
Does shaggy bark mean the cedar is old growth?
Often, yes. Cedar bark starts peeling in long, stringy strips as the tree matures, so a stand full of shaggy trunks tends to be older and taller. That matters past the size of the job, since tall, mature cedar among oaks is the kind of stand warblers nest in. Mention it when you call so the timing’s checked first.
Should I mark the oaks or the cedar I want gone?
Mark the oaks. On a full clearing, every unmarked cedar comes out, so tape on the keepers is clearer than tape on hundreds of junipers. If you’d like a few cedars kept for shade, mark those too and tell us, because that’s moving toward thinning.