Oklahoma

Q&A: Advice for homeowners as Eastern Red Cedar helps fuel Oklahoma wildfires

Published

12 months ago

March 19, 2025

Q&A: Advice for homeowners as Eastern Red Cedar helps fuel Oklahoma wildfires

Since Friday, fires have burned through thousands of acres, destroyed hundreds of homes, and have taken at least four lives. Dry conditions, high winds, and one Oklahoma tree have fanned the flames.

Q: How does the Eastern Red Cedar affect communities?

A: The water off Arcadia Lake has been the antidote to nature’s insidious plans across Oklahoma. People captured images of Bridger Aerospace’s firefighting planes scooping water from the lake. Those planes dumped the water onto a fire a few miles Northeast on Monday.

A tree along the lake’s banks and beyond helped fuel those fires – the Eastern Red Cedar. The Easter Red Cedar is filled with volatile oils that make it ignite and burn easily.

“It is impacting all the citizens of Oklahoma,” said John Weir, senior extension specialist of Natural Resource Ecology & Management at Oklahoma State University Extension. “They’re a native invasive.”

Q: Why are there so many cedar trees in Oklahoma?

A: Weir said the Eastern Red Cedar was overplanted in the early 1900s and invaded places they wouldn’t be under natural circumstances. The past week revealed the consequences as wildfires plagued several communities.

“I’m not a supporter or lover of cedar that’s for sure,” Weir said.

Weir spent Tuesday monitoring a piece of land owned by OSU that felt the fires’ impact.

“We’re just out here keeping an eye on it – making sure nothing flares back up,” Weir said.

Q: What efforts exist to mitigate cedar trees?

A: State conversation efforts aim to reduce the tree’s population. House Bill 2162 is a proposed law making its way through the Oklahoma state legislature. Its goal is to reduce the growing threat of wildfires by tackling the overpopulation of red cedar trees. The responsibility also rests on homeowners.

“Prescribed fire is one of the best ways to control Eastern Red Cedar,” Weir said. “My total recommendation is – get rid of all of them.”

Q: How can homeowners reduce fire risk?

A: John said if homeowners don’t want to get rid of the red cedars altogether, they should prune them from the ground up by at least five feet. That way a potential fire can’t flow into the canopies of the trees so easily.

“Definitely keep cedars back and away from any kind of building structures,” Weir said.

Weir said to keep doors and windows closed on any structure and keep flammable items away from buildings. He said wooden security fences can pose a risk along with wood piles if they are close to homes.

Q: Who should homeowners contact if they want to remove red cedars?

A: Weir recommended people contact their county extension office or the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. That state has several programs in place to help control red cedars and limit fire risk.

“There’s several that are working have knowledge [to] help remove cedars either mechanically, with fire, and however we can get that done,” Weir said.

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Oklahoma

Oklahoma Ford Sports Blitz: Mar. 1, 2026

Published

50 minutes ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Oklahoma Ford Sports Blitz: Mar. 1, 2026

Big night in downtown OKC as the Oklahoma City Thunder welcome the Denver Nugget and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is back on the floor.

Steve McGehee reports live from Paycom Center with the latest on SGA’s return after missing nine games, the Thunder’s push to hold the top spot in the Western Conference, and what getting healthy means for OKC’s title hopes.

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Oklahoma

How Oklahoma GM Jim Nagy ‘Put More Around’ John Mateer During Offseason

Published

13 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

How Oklahoma GM Jim Nagy ‘Put More Around’ John Mateer During Offseason

Oklahoma general manager Jim Nagy experienced great success during his first year in Norman.

Nagy, who joined OU’s staff in February 2025, oversaw the Sooners’ scouting staff as Oklahoma reached the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2019. He also helped OU sign a top-15 2026 recruiting class and land several key transfer portal players after the 2025 season.

Though the wins outweighed the losses in Nagy’s first year, the Sooners’ general manager knew that there was much to fortify during the offseason.

Oklahoma’s offense sputtered late in the season, as the Sooners scored fewer than 25 points in each of their last four games.

For Nagy, a major focus was surrounding OU quarterback John Mateer with quality talent.

“(We wanted to) just really put more around John Mateer,” Nagy said on The Dari Nowkhah Show on KREF on Friday.

Nagy and his scouting team added plenty of pieces from the portal that should elevate Oklahoma’s offense.

The Sooners signed three portal wideouts — Trell Harris (Virginia), Parker Livingstone (Texas) and Mackenzie Alleyne (Washington State) — after the 2025 season to join returning receivers Isaiah Sategna, Jer’Michael Carter and Jacob Jordan.

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Sategna, who transferred to OU from Arkansas after the 2024 season, served as Mateer’s safety net in 2025. The receiver finished the year with 965 yards and eight touchdowns on 67 catches.

Harris and Livingstone are both proven producers at the Power Four level, and Nagy believes that those two will make OU’s receiving corps stronger in 2026.

“Those two, we’re very excited about both of those guys,” Nagy said.

Nagy also did plenty of work to ensure that OU’s run game improves in 2026.

The Sooners added three tight ends — Hayden Hansen (Florida), Rocky Beers (Colorado State) and Jack Van Dorselaer (Tennessee) — from the portal. They also added three transfer offensive linemen: Caleb Nitta (Western Kentucky), E’Marion Harris (Arkansas) and Peyton Joseph (Georgia Tech).

OU will have its two top running backs from the 2025 squad, Xavier Robinson and Tory Blaylock, back in 2026.

For those two to reach their full potential, the Sooners’ blockers will have to regularly open up running lanes — and Nagy is confident that they will.

“We have to run the ball better, there’s no way around that,” Nagy said. “Our job is to create more competition in every room in the offseason. I feel like we’ve done that.”

On the show, Nagy revealed that the Sooners added nearly 9,000 collegiate snaps to their roster during the offseason.

The general manager believes that both sides of the ball will be stronger as a result of his scouting team’s offseason efforts and their collaboration with OU’s coaching staff.

“I’ve tried to be really intentional with our communication,” Nagy said. “There’s a common goal: We’re trying to win a national championship. This is a true partnership, and we all have the same goal in mind. It’s going to continue to evolve and get better.”

Oklahoma will open its 2026 season against UTEP on Sept. 5.

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Oklahoma

Elgin’s Ritson Meyer becomes four-time Oklahoma high school wrestling state champion

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Elgin’s Ritson Meyer becomes four-time Oklahoma high school wrestling state champion

The loss was on Ritson Meyer’s mind all week as he prepared for his final state wrestling tournament.

A senior 215-pounder at Elgin, Meyer isn’t used to getting beaten, but he got a wake-up call when he lost against Coweta senior Aiven Robbins by five points in their regional championship match.

For Meyer, it set in that winning his fourth state championship wouldn’t be an easy task.

“I lost to him last week and I’m not a loser, so it was eating on me all week in practice,” Meyer said. “So (in) practice, I really leveled up everything. Everything about it.”

Meyer and Robbins met again on Saturday, this time with the Class 5A state championship on the line.

Intensely focused from the start, Meyer came out aggressive. And although it was another great match, Meyer did just enough to etch his name in the state history books.

Meyer held on to beat Robbins in an 8-7 decision in the new OG&E Coliseum as he claimed his fourth state championship, while Coweta won the team title.

An Abilene Christian football signee, Meyer’s wrestling days are over, but he leaves the sport with satisfaction.

“I came out here — even though it hurt, even though I was tired — I got it done,” Meyer said. “I’m so happy. I got to celebrate with my parents, my family, my friends. It’s a crazy feeling.”

A standout running back and linebacker on the gridiron, Meyer helped his team win the Class 4A state title in football as a junior before Elgin lost to Tuttle 23-20 in the 2025 championship game in December.

It’s a different sport, but that loss fueled Meyer’s wrestling season in a way.

“I like to tell people that wrestling is like offseason football,” Meyer said. “I can’t go out, lose. Everybody wanted me to win this. I won it for the whole entire community. First four-timer at Elgin. And that football (loss) really did eat me alive. It didn’t feel good at all, and I didn’t want that same feeling again.”

Meyer had a great start against Robbins on Saturday and never trailed, but Robbins battled to set up a great finish and both were gassed when it was over.

“I just gave it my all,” Meyer said, “and I got it done.”

This article will be updated.

Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at@nicksardis. Sign up forThe Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

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