Cedar removal, home hardening underway as Stillwater eyes wildfire prevention

Dr. David Engle outlined the fire science behind the March 2025 disaster and the steps residents, neighborhoods, and the state are taking in response

Chris Peters

Jun 23, 2026 - 8 min read

A slide from Dr. David Engle's June 11, 2026 presentation to the Stillwater Frontier Rotary Club shows a before, during, and after sequence of eastern red cedar removal along W. 19th Ave. in southwest Stillwater, with a feller buncher clearing the dense cedar stands as part of a 300-foot fuel-reduction buffer near Stillwater Fire Station No. 4. Engle said the cleared material is chipped on site and hauled off for use as pet bedding.

Cedar removal, home hardening underway as Stillwater eyes wildfire prevention — A slide from Dr. David Engle's June 11, 2026 presentation to the Stillwater Frontier Rotary Club shows a before, during, and after sequence of eastern red cedar removal along W. 19th Ave. in southwest Stillwater, with a feller buncher clearing the dense cedar stands as part of a 300-foot fuel-reduction buffer near Stillwater Fire Station No. 4. Engle said the cleared material is chipped on site and hauled off for use as pet bedding.

An OSU fire ecologist who was evacuated during the March 14, 2025 wildfire told a Stillwater civic group earlier this month that conditions that day were mild compared to what could come — and that eastern red cedar is the primary reason the wildland-urban edge around Stillwater remains at high risk.

Dr. David Engle, Regents Professor Emeritus of natural resource ecology and management at Oklahoma State University, addressed the Stillwater Frontier Rotary Club on June 11, offering a detailed assessment of why March 14 unfolded the way it did, what a more severe fire could look like, and what residents and officials can do now to reduce risk.

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