Re: redcedar acidity & apple rust

I’m in the early stages of planning for a fruit tree guild on my property. On the northern side of my yard I’ve got 3 fairly large redcedars that I would ideally like to heavily trim or get rid of two of them entirely to free up some more space.

I’ve read some conflicting articles about how redcedars can affect the pH of the soil, but I’m assuming that maybe some of those articles could be conflating redcedars with true cedars. Does anyone have any experience with this directly?

I was also wondering if redcedar could be used as the foundation for a hugenkultur mound once the limbs are aged a bit. Would this be cause for concern with apple trees growing ~20ft away?

I’d also take any and all words of wisdom from any fellow zone 7 folks, this will be my first big gardening adventure here. Thanks so much in advance! ☺️