We are excited to have natural resources planner and ecologist Elizabeth McGreevy present at our Tuesday February 4th chapter meeting!
For 100 years, we’ve fought the woody brush that spreads across limestone regions of Texas called karst country. Much of this woody cover consists of mountain cedars, a type of juniper that prefers limestone. Instead of causing harm, we now know mountain cedars are benefitting the region since they regenerate degraded karst country or sustain groundwaters, healthy soils, deep carbon storage, biodiversity, while reducing fire risk and flooding. You will learn why we need to use mountain cedars and other nature-based solutions to help regenerate and protect these lands.
Elizabeth McGreevy, a sixth-generation Texas and Texas A&M graduate, is a natural resources ecologist and author of the book “Wanted! Mountain Cedars, Dead and Alive“. As the owner of Land Steward, she relies on more than 25 years of experience to produce site-specific ecosystem management plans for Hill Country landowners. In 2022, she founded Project Bedrock, now in partnership with The Watershed Association, to promote using mountain cedars and other nature-based solutions to regenerate the limestone karst country regions of Texas.
Copies of Elizabeth McGreevy’s Wanted! Mountain Cedars will be available for purchase during the meeting and can also be purchased online.
The meeting will start with a social time at 6:00pm, at Hunke Gathering Hall at Herff Farm, 33 Herff Road, Boerne. Announcements will begin at 6:45pm, followed by the presentation. For the social time, please bring any snacks/appetizers/desserts that you would like to share.
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, 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.
