Legislators who told the Oklahoma Governor’s Water Conference in December they would tackle invasive cedar trees as a serious water quality issue have introduced two bills.

SB 454, by Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, calls for all state land management agencies to tackle the invasive trees on lands that they own or manage within five years.

HB 2239, by Rep. Mike Dobrinski, R-Okeene, is named the Terry Peach North Canadian Watershed Restoration Act and would set up funding mechanisms for cost shares to help landowners, conservation districts, rural fire departments and prescribed burn associations to deal with tamarisk and redcedar beyond what is available currently. It would also create a pilot program on the North Canadian River for a watershed impact study.

Tamarisk, often called saltcedar, refers to one of several shrubs and small trees introduced in the 1820s as ornamentals and later used for windbreaks and stream bank erosion. It has spread beyond control across riverbeds of the western United States to displace native trees and grasses with its thirsty, dense growths. Redcedar is a native tree but presents similar problems with dense growth that has gone unchecked by modern land uses that discourage use of fire, and often results in catastrophic wildfires.

Terry Peach, former Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture under Gov. Brad Henry, and past executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency, died in January 2022 at the age of 71.

“The North Canadian runs through his ranch in Woodward County and he had a place on Canton Lake. Terry was an avid hunter and fisherman and spent untold hours working to kill both salt and red cedars on his place,” Don Williams said via email.

Williams, a lobbyist and former state senator for the western District 49, said he is working pro bono with the legislators to support bills.

HB 2239 would establish a fund for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission for cost share programs beyond what the federal Natural Resource Conservation Service administers now, Williams said.

The pilot program on the North Canadian is intended to yield scientific study.

“The plan is to work with Oklahoma State University to study success of these projects compared to a similar control tract on the S. Canadian,” he said. “When we have validation of improvements in stream flow, alluvial water levels, improved grazing capacities and wildlife habitat we plan to expand the project across the state.”

SB 454 directs state agencies to prepare reports showing past efforts and costs for eradicating the invasive woody species and to submit plans that show how much acreage is covered and what it would cost to eradicate the trees within the next five years.

“We believe that asking and incentivizing landowners to take on these projects should require all state owned properties to set an example by clearing cedars from highway right of ways and for agencies such as the (Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation, and Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation) and the 800,000 acres-plus owned by our Commissioners of the Land Office to eliminate cedars from their properties within a five-year period,” Williams said.