Do you love having a fresh-cut Christmas tree? Better yet, do you love going out to the woods and cutting your own tree? Do you worry that getting a real tree is damaging the environment? This is your lucky day, because the Forester Artist is here to absolve you of your sins!
Most Christmas trees on the tree lots are grown on Christmas tree farms. Buy them and they will grow more. There is no impact to the forest when buying from a Christmas tree farm.
Many of us like to go directly to the source, the forest. Is it wrong to cut a Christmas tree in the woods? Does it damage the environment? No way! Get out there and cut that tree! The reality, in the western United States, is that we actually have too many trees in the forests. Too many trees…how can that be?
For the last 100 years there has been aggressive wildfire suppression in our western forests. This has caused our forests to grow quite dense with more trees per acre than can be healthfully grown. The result is our forests are becoming very susceptible to disease, insect attack and cataclysmic wildfire. I’ll post more about that later.
When we thin our commercial forest, we typically space our trees from 18′ to 26′ apart depending on their age and size. That kind of spacing gives you a lot of latitude when picking a tree. If you are worried about creating a “hole” in the forest, then select one growing close to another tree. You can also pick a tree next to road in the ditch, since these trees get removed for road maintenance. The tree I selected is growing so close to the large sugar pine that a timber faller would have to cut it out of his way in order to fall the large tree. The small tree is a safety issue because it blocks the timber faller’s escape route.
So, if you want to go and cut your own Christmas tree, then go by your local Forest Service office or other local forest headquarters, and get a Christmas tree permit. Cutting your own is great family fun, but be careful, because it’s easy to get stuck. It’s always better to take two vehicles.
Great post Tim! And thanks for the advice about taking two vehicles.:)
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Thanks Rose, and take a shovel too. 🙂
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We have bought our small tree (with soil and roots) at our local supermarket. I know, that isn’t as romantic as going, with a cute dog, to snowy woodlands to pick up a tree. We will return our Bonsai Christmas tree to nature, or keep it on our balcony for next year.
The Dutch can’t do what you advise: if we all would line up at the entrance of one of our small national parks, these would soon be depleted. No big trees for us, neither snow. But then…we have plenty of Dutch chocolate. 😉
Merry Christmas and all the best for 2014!
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We have millions of acres of National Forests from which to chose a tree. I know it isn’t true in most countries. The living Christmas tree is a wonderful thing to do. Dutch chocolate is even better! 🙂
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Great post Tim I really enjoyed that and am of course always interested in learning more about your forest management – great to see how Christmas tree thinning provides for a healthier forest. Hope you have a great Christmas, best wishes from Wales 🙂
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Thanks Mike, Merry Christmas to you and your family.
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What a great idea for all concerned, Tim. I am not sure we can do this in England. More’s the pity. I would love to go out in the woods with my family and cut our own tree. Have a great Christmas and New Year 🙂
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Even here in the US not everyone has access to a place where they can cut a tree. So come on over and we’ll take you out for Christmas trees! Merry Christmas to you and your family Amelia. 🙂
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What a fabulous offer, Tim. But, be careful – I may just get on the next plane 🙂 I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and the New Year brings you all you wish for 🙂
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No worries, we have an extra room. Thank you for the well wishes and I hope you and your family have a fantastic Christmas time.
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🙂
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No, not in the Netherlands, either. But it sounds like fun!
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I know it isn’t available in most countries. We are lucky to have this opportunity here. It is great fun. Merry Christmas Meta!
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Merry Christmas to you, as well!
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😀
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Very interesting! Thank you for this information. Your dog is beautiful, and I love the little boots on him. (It looks like boots, anyway).
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Kinta is very adorable. Those are shadows on his feet. He’s bare foot!
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That’s funny, because I studied the photo a long time trying to determine if it were shadows or boots, then concluded it was boots. LOL!!
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🙂
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Oh, let Kinta have his fun – it’s the holidays!
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Don’t you worry about Kinta. That puppy knows how to have fun!
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Great post, Tim. Informative, beautiful, and seasonal. Can’t wait to see the decorated tree. Your new pup is getting big!
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We are so behind Jill. The tree won’t go up until tomorrow. Kinta is definately growing fast. He eats like a horse!
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I am behind, too. Still haven’t finished my shopping or wrapped presents. Somehow it will all get done and your tree will be beautiful.
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Great post Tim. It seems like I learn a little everytime I read yor blog. Merry Christmas! That Kinta looks like a smart fella.
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Thanks Zach and Merry Christmas to you. Kinta is a smart one all right. He hates getting into trouble, but still manages to do so. He’s a good puppy.
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We just got a jack russell pup there a few months backs unfortunately we dint have a tree up this year
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Those Jack Russells are funny dogs. Lots of energy to be sure. If you had a tree up your pup would be redecorating the bottow I suspect.
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Tim,
You make my Fridays. I love this adventure! I have memories of cutting Christmas trees off family land. One year, my dad had to wire two pines together to get a good shape. 🙂
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Now that is dedication to getting a great Christmas tree Linda. I applaud your dad’s ingenuity. It would be a wonderful thing for anyone who puts up a Christmas tree to have a chance to cut their own at least once.
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Your Christmas Trees will be lovely! Merry Christmas 🙂
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Thank you Susan. These red fir tree that we cut are the nicest trees around here. I still have to put ours up. I’m a bit late, but we’ll have it up tomorrow.
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Have fun! 🙂
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Our first Christmas together was in Bangkok, Thailand, where Mike was stationed. There were no fir trees, so we bought a little silver aluminum tree. That tree was put up and take down for 49 years! Finally, it was retired– and the boys (47 and 50!) howled protest. Ah, well. Life is difficult sometimes.
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That is an awesome tradition Maureen. I hope you kept it. I’m sure your boys will want it. I love the fresh cut trees, but a Christmas tradition like that is very cool. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
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Enjoy your tree and have a wonderful Christmas!
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Thank you and you do the same!
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Great post, Tim — going out in the Alberta Rockies to cut down the Christmas tree was my favourite activity when I was a kid. One year [early 70s?], the dog decided to roll in some very stinky mess [leftovers from a moose, probably!] & was banned from the heated cab of the truck to the plywood ‘doghouse’ on the back. Ever the dog-lover, I decided to stay with him. I always smile when I think of that very stinky, very cold ride back of a girl, her dog, & a huge Spruce tree huddled in the back of a half-ton. 😉 Thanks for a wonderful walk down memory lane.
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That story put a smile on my face. What a fantastic memory. You obviously have a tender heart. Have a wonderful Christmas Vanessa. 😀
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I love this post. When my oldest son was little we went out every year and picked a cedar tree because there were so many cedars and not so many pines in our area. The scent of that tree was heavenly. Now I have an artificial tree, but I have many lovely memories of Christmas tree hunting. Thanks for bringing them to mind with your post. 🙂
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I find it wonderful how so many people have those special memories of Christmas tree cutting with their families. When you tell that story I can smell the cedar. Thank for sharing Elizabeth and Merry Christmas.
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Makes good sense. we don’t have pine or firs or what not here in central Texas but lots of folks have Eastern Red cedars on their property but no one wants a cedar. That is what I grew up with and. my Dad cut our trees from our wood lot property. Sometimes they were not so pretty but the main thing is that it was a tree. I “don’t do” trees anymore and care nothing about it. But for folks that do I think it is a great tradition. And yep, the pup looks a wee bit tipsy. Too cute!
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We certainly have no shortage of trees here. Kinta is a cute little whipper snapper. I can’t tell you how hard it was to get him to sit for that picture.
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Great post Tim and great information!
And
Kintaaaaaa , your face and shadow,pose are so lovely! Have fun ❤️(That I’m sure you do!)
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Fun is what Kinta does best!
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We picked and cut our Christmas from a local tree farm with our kids for many years. We had a high ceiling, so the tree was big. It was easy going in, but once unbound, hard going out. I picked out needles from the carpet for months.
Kinta does look like he was in the nog. What a goofy face.
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There is nothing quite like cutting Christmas trees with kids, How fun.
That was the most dignified pose I could get out of him.
I like it anyway. 🙂
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Good advice Tim. May I wish you and Mary a very Merry Christmas…..hope you can remember it after the hot toddies 😉 Ralph 😀
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Hot toddies…..that sounds good. You should come on over! I bet you make a killer hot toddy! I’ve never made them myself. If you can’t make then have a very Merry Christmas! 😉
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Thanks Tim 😀
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This post is so very interesting. Thankyou for clearing that up for me, but bought a fake tree ten years ago and still using it. It was hard for me, seeing all those used Christmas trees at the end of the season, piled in the lot where we took them to be ground down. I just couldn’t keep “seeing” all that destroyed. Happy Holidays, Tim.
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I know what you mean Leslie. It is hard to see something like that go to waste. I look at it this way. If a tree is from a Christmas tree farm then it fullfilled its purpose. In the forest we are helping the neighboring trees by thinning them out. When we thin small trees like that by hand, we leave them on the forest floor and they decompose back into the soil. When they are that small there is no economical way to remove them. When the are larger we can make chips for electricity or lumber from them.
In our part of Northern California we are fortunate in what we do with old Christmas trees. A local Co-generation plant takes them at no charge and uses them for making electricity. Total utilization of the tree.
However, I am in agreement with you in that I don’t like seeing them just sent to a landfill to be buried. That being said, many landfills now grind up their green waste and create garden mulch, which is sold to the public.
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Reminds me why I want to get out of Miami someday. Thanks visit my blog. Merry Christmas.
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Merry Christmas Carl.
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