We started doing the Christmas Tree lot 3 years ago at our place. It was love at first… sale.
We harvest wild trees from an area that is permitted for commercial cutting. I love everything about tree-cutting trips — a thermos of hot soup, walking in the woods with my husband, being bundled up in our Carhartts, the smell of the forest, and snow if we’re lucky.
I felt a sharp pang of guilt when we cut our first tree down. It seemed a waste of such a beautiful tree to cut it down, remove it, let it dry out and then throw it away in a month or so. I imagined it as habitat for forest critters, an air-cleaner, an important part of its environment.
That is all true. However…
The trees were planted in that area specifically for wild Christmas tree cutting. There are specific size and cutting requirements we have to follow when harvesting. And, my grandfather has a timber ranch in Oregon — selective, responsible harvesting isn’t a new concept to me.
So, we carefully went about harvesting our Christmas trees. We’ve developed a few little rules of our own that we follow: we don’t cut trees next to each other, they have to be spaced out; we cut them all the way at the base (that’s actually a Forest Service rule), even if the bottom few inches or foot aren’t that desirable; we take out everything we cut and try to use extra “bits” in our wreaths and as firewood.
Thursday we went tree-cutting to an area we’d been the week before. The area is easy to hike and had a bit of snow – perfect for tree-cutting. As we drove up the road we saw tree-bottoms from trees that were at least 20 feet tall — well over the permitted size. All had been cut off at the base, and then just the tops taken and the bottom few feet left on the side of the road. Also, they were on the non-permitted side of the road. We were crushed, I felt like someone had just kicked my dog or something.
We parked the truck and hiked back into the forest and looked for some trees. I passed two that had just been cut. This time, because it was “out of sight” of the road, the cutters had taken them off about chest-high and left the 5′ tall stump. Then, they left the bottom few feet and cut the tops off again. They took trees in clusters, cutting them the same way: chest-high first cut, then take the top, then leave the rest.
I was livid.
But, I’m afraid that the current Christmas tree shortage will perpetuate that kind of thing. Jeff and I loaded up our trees and headed home, discouraged. I don’t know if we’ll cut wild trees again next year or not. The thing is, someone out there is selling these wild trees that are perfect (the tops of older trees are fluffier and more uniform), and it puts the responsible tree-sellers in the position of having seemingly lower-quality trees.
There’s a lesson in there and it’s a sad one: it doesn’t pay to do the right thing.
We love doing the Christmas trees and so far haven’t had any trouble meeting our customers’ needs. We had a small order this year and that is probably a little easier for our tree farmer to fill than orders for the bigger outfits. We only cut as many wild trees as what we sold last year in hopes of not having any waste.
I don’t know, I’m torn. Part of me thinks, “cut wild trees next year, do it right, because it’s the right thing to do.” You know, be a positive influence in what you do. You really can’t complain about the Forest Service doing a crummy job of managing their forests when jackwagons go out there and do EXACTLY the opposite of the Forest Service’s strategy. So, maybe if we stay in line with that strategy we can be a teeny tiny part of a solution. Or at least just NOT be part of the problem. That’s what my inner Pollyanna thinks.
But part of me also wants no part of it. I wondered what public perception might be, if any? Do people see our wild trees and think, “those poaching jerks!” Or do they just see a “Charlie Brown” tree? Or have they gone from lot to lot and see ours and think, “they have zero quality standards, we saw wild trees WAY nicer than this down at the other lot.” Are we contributing to a different problem by “competing” in the wild-tree market? (I’m going out on a limb here and saying that it’s a VERY small market… pun intended.)
I do not see us giving up the Christmas tree part of our business portfolio. We have WAY too much fun with it. It’s my childhood dream come true. We might just have to change HOW we do it, but that’s just business and we’re fine with that.
Whether your tastes are for wild trees or farmed trees or just a wagon ride and a cute barn, we’d love to see ya!
