Fraser Firs (Choose & Cut

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

As 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 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 Country 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

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PHOTO BY MATT POWELL PRODUCTIONS Scott Taylor looks through the trees at his tree farm — Stone Mountain Farm.

FIRS

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Christmas trees for habitat in lakes.”

According to a statistic provided to Sexton by the Ashe County Cooperative Extension Office, Ashe County’s Christmas trees alone provide enough daily oxygen for 252,000 people.

“A positive thing is that every time a tree farm takes down one tree they’re sticking another one back in its place,” said Patterson.

Perhaps one of the most important elements of the High Country’s Christmas tree industry, however, is the family traditions it builds along the way, both for local family farmers and visitors alike.

“These choose-n-cut farms, they really do get to see people’s kids grow up,” said Patterson. “The one’s that have been in busy for a long time, they remember the parents bringing the kids, and now they’re seeing the children come back with their children. It really does build that tradition.”

For more information about North Carolina Christmas tree production visit ncchristmastrees.com/.

PHOTO BY LUKE BARBER Avery County’s choose-and-cut lots, such as Christmas Corner located in Pineola, offer an authentic Christmas tree shopping experience.

HIGH COUNTRY CHOOSE & CUT FARMS

ASHE COUNTY

Cranberry Creek Farms

Phone: (336) 908-5439 1777 N Burnt Hill Rd. Laurel Springs, North Carolina 28644

Frosty’s Choose & Cut

Phone: (800) 238-8733 2152 Beaver Creek School Rd. West Jefferson, North Carolina 28694

Mistletoe Meadows Christmas Trees

Phone: (336) 465-9754 583 Burnt Hill Road Laurel Springs, North Carolina 28644

Peak Farms

Phone: (336) 977-2097 1011 Low Gap Rd. Jefferson, North Carolina 28640

AVERY COUNTY

Avery Farms / Trinity Tree Company

Phone: (828) 733-5052 615 Avery Lane Plumtree, North Carolina 28664

Cartner Christmas Tree Farm

Phone: (828) 733-1641 901 Balsam Drive PO Box 247 Newland, North Carolina 28657

Christmas Corner CNC / Douglas R. Clark Nursery dba C&G Nursery

Phone: (828) 733-4850 204 White Pine Rd. Newland, North Carolina 28657

Reece Farm & Nursery

Phone: (828) 898-5642 241 John Jones Rd. Elk Park, North Carolina 28622

Snowy Mountain Christmas Tree Farm

Phone: (828) 733-9589 4699 Linville Falls Why 221 S Newland, North Carolina 28657

Sugar Plum Farm

Phone: (828) 765-0019 1263 Isaacs Branch Rd. Newland, North Carolina 28657

Two D’s Nursery

Phone: (828) 733-6686 7849 Linville Falls Highway Newland, North Carolina 28657

WATAUGA COUNTY

Appalachian Evergreens, Inc.

Phone: (828) 264-1609 620 Sampson Road Boone, North Carolina 28607

C & J Christmas Trees

Phone: (828) 386-6221 1999 Brookshire Rd. Boone, North Carolina 28607

Circle C Tree Farms

Phone: (828) 265-7504 372 Will Cook Road Boone, North Carolina 28607

Clawson’s Christmas Tree Farm

Phone: (828) 719-6395 4805 194 N Boone, North Carolina 28607

Cornett Deal Christmas Tree Farm

Phone: (828) 964-6322 142 Tannenbaum Lane Vilas, North Carolina 28692

Panoramic View Christmas Tree Farm

Phone: (828) 719-6395 368 Panoramic Lane Boone, North Carolina 28607

Stone Mountain Farms

Phone: (828) 773-7651 301 Sherry Reece Lane Trade, Tennessee 37691