PHOTO BY LOGAN PARKS One of many Fraser fir tree farms found along the High Country’s hills. The Fraser fir Christmas tree is often referred to as the Cadillac of Christmas trees.
Sustainable and Attainable Fraser Firs provide a boost to the High Country’s economy
BY ANDREW COLE
A
s fall transitions into winter, bands of visitors can be seen leaving the region with a special souvenir strapped to the roof of their vehicle: Their very own High Country Christmas tree. Despite being seen to many as simply a seasonal endeavor, the High Country’s Christmas tree industry is said to produce year round economic and environmental benefits for the region. “There’s a lot involved in the Christmas tree industry that a lot of times goes unnoticed,” said Robin Sexton whose family are fourth-generation tree growers and the owners of Frosty’s Choose & Cut and Sexton Farms. “It’s almost like looking at your circulatory system. You have so many little 100
branches that it’s hard to even imagine all the ones that being effected.” According to Sexton, each year the local Christmas tree industry provides both longterm and seasonal employment for the High Country, with everyone from shop owners and wreath makers, to truck drivers and planters reaping the benefits. “It can be the person that just goes into the field to clip the clippings, it can be the one that sales the wreath making supplies,” Sexton said. “There are lots of layers on the impact to the economy.” Likewise, Paige Patterson, a horticultural extension agent in Watauga County noted the economic benefits the local Christmas tree industry has on local businesses. “It kind of brings people in during that mid-November to mid-December
time frame and not only are they buying a Christmas tree and other related items from family farms, they’re spending money in restaurants and staying in hotels and that kind of stuff,” Patterson said. The conifer of choice for High Country growers is the Fraser fir, a variety of tree native to the region and typically found in higher elevations of between 3,000 to over 6,000 feet. According to the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association, the tree’s resilience, needle retention, form, dark blue-green color, pleasant scent and outstanding shipping characteristics has led to the Fraser fir becoming one of the most popular Christmas tree species, with the Old North State producing the majority of the nation’s supply. “The Fraser fir, rules the High Coun-
try and rules North Carolina. North Carolina is known all over the country for their Fraser firs,” Patterson said. Producing a Christmas tree is an investment, with the average tree requiring from seven to ten years of growth in order to produce a 6-7 feet tree. Though it made seem counterintuitive to chop down a tree after nearly a decade of cultivation, many of the trees find a new life after the holiday season, helping the environment in ways that artificial trees can not. “It is a sustainable product. It doesn’t go into a landfill and sit for 1,000 years from now, it goes back into the soil,” Sexton said. “You can have it mulched, it’s used for dune restoration at the beaches. A lot of times they submerge SEE FIRS ON PAGE 102
AUTUMN TIMES 2021
