Central Texas seems overly focused on native invasive management. For sure, we have a problem with non-native invasives such as salt cedar, but it doesn't get nearly as much attention as native Ashe junipers, partly due to a confusion in the difference between the terms non-native and invasive. Not helped by the confusing common name of "cedar" for the junipers, that's for sure. Ashe juniper is native, but it's a colonizer of disturbed land - which there is a lot of it due to a history of very bad land management, so it spreads quite easily. Normally, juniper would just be living in areas on a slope greater than about 3%, an important ecological role in preventing erosion. However, there is an idea that these BAD juniper "steal" water from the aquifer, therefore, they all need to be chopped down in light of our recharge problems. This policy is defended because they are dismissed as being "invasive" which people think is synonymous with non-native. In fact, not only do juniper prevent erosion, but their root zones are thought to prevent the spread of oak wilt, by acting as a barrier around live oak roots. Not to mention, juniper provide habitat for endangered song birds.