North Carolina Christmas Trees Weathered the Storm

Fraser firs at Panoramic View Christmas Tree Farm in Watauga County, outside Boone, N.C.

The Christmas season is here. And like the Grinch in Dr. Seuss’ 1957 classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Hurricane Helene did her worst and threatened to upend the holidays across Western North Carolina this year.

While there is a long way to go, local recovery efforts have been the stuff of miracles, with people coming together to repair and restore homes and livelihoods, and in the case of our woodland farms, to save Christmas.

Christmas trees in North Carolina are a tremendous contributor to the economic sustainability of our western counties, where nearly all of the trees are grown. In fact, North Carolina is No. 2 in the nation in the farming of these festive holiday centerpieces. More than 3 million Christmas trees are harvested annually in the state, with many being shipped across the nation and internationally.

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“North Carolina Christmas tree farmers produce the most desirable trees on the market and this year is no exception. We will not know how the market for real trees fared until after Christmas, but I’m hearing that many choose-and-cut farmers sold all the trees they wanted to sell, especially the larger trees,” said Jamie Bookwalter, NC State Extension specialist in forestry and environmental resources.

In Avery County alone, Extension experts estimate $35 million in losses among the five highest producing farms, or between 175,000 and 200,000 trees. But it wasn’t the growers of mature trees that Helene hurt the most. Since the Fraser fir, the primary Christmas tree species in Western North Carolina, grows at a higher elevation, many fields are situated above the flood zones, where nursery and ornamental operations are located. 

“Most of the damage we saw in Fraser fir farms was related to water damage, such as loss of infrastructure or landslides or the flooding of trees,” said Bookwalter. “Much like the general damage across the mountains, some farms were spared while other farms suffered a lot of damage.

“Although we’ve seen losses of mature trees in landslides, some of the highest level of damage was incurred by farmers that grow seedlings, which are often grown near streams because nurseries need good water sources,” she added.

Bookwalter reported an estimated 25% of Western North Carolina nurseries were impacted, with losses estimated at $125 million.

On top of the direct losses from Helene, farmers faced significant challenges to their ability to transport their trees to market with so many roads and bridges completely washed out.

Many roads in Avery County and across Western North Carolina were damaged or destroyed during flooding after Hurricane Helene.

Jerry Moody, director of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Avery County Center, found himself working closely with the state Department of Transportation in the weeks following Helene. Moody knew which fields the Avery County growers were harvesting and was able to triage the road repairs needed to move equipment and tractor trailers. 

“We had until Nov. 5 to get the roads and bridges ready to bring the trees out on tractor trailers,” Moody said. Extension experts, like Moody, also worked on getting the necessary permission and materials for growers to fix their own roads when necessary. “We were able to get the roads taken care of and we were able to get their [trees] out.”

While 2024 will likely be seen as a successful season for most Christmas tree growers, the coming of spring will begin to show what long-term effects the storm will have on North Carolina Christmas trees.

“We are somewhat worried about disease with future harvests,” Moody said, before going on to describe a fungus-like pathogen that causes disease in Fraser firs. Phytophthora spores are spread through water and cause trees to rot at the root. The telltale sign of phytophthora is the needles of the tree beginning to turn red from the bottom up.

A young Fraser fir in the field showing symptoms of phytophthora.

Moody explained that since this year’s crop of trees was dormant at the time of the hurricane, they were already beginning to retain their needles and were offered a kind of protection against the immediate effects of the wind and water. Over the next few years it will become evident if Helene carried the disease to new fields. “Only time will tell how far it is going to spread,” he said.

Researchers with NC State Extension are already studying the soil conditions to see what challenges growers may need to mitigate and what amendments may need to be made in order to ensure successful harvests in the future. “Right now the land is stable, there is a low risk of future slides, but the soil has been stripped to the bedrock in places so our ability to replant is in question in some areas,” Moody said.

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“The assessment of soil conditions, especially soils and land around rivers and streams, is still ongoing,” said Bookwalter. “Many farmers lost many square yards and even acres of riverfront farmland. This will take months and even years to completely address,” she added.

Regardless of the challenges that lay ahead, both Moody and Bookwalter believe the industry will continue to thrive. “Christmas tree farmers are a resilient bunch, and North Carolinians can support rural areas staying rural by purchasing real Christmas trees,” Bookwalter said.

So this year, while you sit back to admire the lights and ornaments on your North Carolina-grown Christmas tree, spare a thought for the farmer that nurtured that tree for the last 10 years, raise a glass and wish them well.

Wind, rain and washed out roads couldn’t stop them from saving Christmas, or in the words of Dr. Seuss, “[S]He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming, it came! Somehow or other… it came just the same.”