Oklahoma Lawmaker Calls Out State Leaders Over Red Cedar Threat
Hearing on Water Use Turns to Red Cedar Crisis
When a state House committee met this week to discuss water demands for data centers in Oklahoma, the focus shifted quickly. Lawmakers linked the water needs of large data centers to another urgent issue that has caused deaths, fires, and widespread property loss across the state.
The discussion led Rep. Mike Dobrinski, R-Okeene, to criticize Governor Kevin Stitt and legislative leaders for ignoring what he described as an escalating danger — the red cedar invasion.
Data Center Water Concerns Connect to Wildfire Risks
During the hearing, the committee reviewed water supply reports from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. The discussion centered on Stillwater, where Google is constructing a massive data center.
Dobrinski asked the agency’s representative about the role of red cedars in draining the state’s water supply. “We addressed a couple of years ago a trial study on the North Canadian watershed for trying to eliminate the invasive red cedar there because of their threat to the water supply in Northwest Oklahoma,” he said.
Lawmaker Warns of Growing Fire and Water Threat
The Assistant Majority Whip warned that red cedars endanger both public safety and Oklahoma’s natural resources. “In my opinion, the Red Cedar presents a far greater threat to central and northeast Oklahoma being a public safety hazard that our friends from Stillwater had experienced with that back in March,” Dobrinski said.
He continued, criticizing state inaction. “Our chief executive in the State and some of our leadership in this building have yet to acknowledge that threat to the level which some of us feel it demands.”
Cedar Invasion Consumes Land and Water
Dobrinski’s concern is backed by data. Oklahoma State University researchers estimate the state loses 300,000 acres each year to red cedar spread. These trees take over native prairie habitat, fuel devastating wildfires, and absorb billions of gallons of water annually.
The Oklahoma Conservation Commission has created the Invasive Woody Species Cost Share Program, allowing landowners to receive up to $50,000 for large-scale cedar removal.
State Reports Warn of Massive Growth
A 2013 study by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission cited alarming data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS):
“Oklahoma has 17 million acres of prairie, shrubland, crosstimbers forests and other forests. NRCS estimates there are eight million acres of these 17 million that are infested with at least 50 redcedars per acre. That is a 400 percent increase in infested acres in the past 50 years. NRCS also estimates that redcedar trees are now increasing in numbers at a rate of 762 acres a day or 300,000 acres each year. By 2013, NRCS predicts 12.6 million acres will be infested by cedar with at least 50 trees per acre, and of those, eight million acres with at least 250 trees per acre.”
With Oklahoma expanding water-intensive industries such as data centers, lawmakers like Dobrinski argue the state cannot ignore how the red cedar invasion threatens both water and safety.
