Where are all the trees?
Robert Shaffer
BURBANK -- Just in time for Y2K is the great Christmas tree famine of
1999.
Noble firs, the most popular species of holiday tree sold in Southern
California, are hard to find this year.
“There is a shortage,” said Gary Casella from his tree lot at Burbank
High School. Casella, who has donated more than $100,000 to the school in
the past eight years in exchange for the space, said the shortfall is not
for lack of trying.
“We just haven’t been able to buy nobles,” he said.
Casella has sold more than 3,000 of the popular trees this year, but
on Friday he had only 20 left for the rest of the season. And he is not
alone.
“What I’ve got is all I’ve got,” said Dave Stevenson of Stevenson’s
Christmas Trees, which had about 350 trees remaining on its San Fernando
Road at midweek. “There are no more coming.”
Local sellers are not just feeding hysteria to line their pockets with
extra Christmas money, said Bryan Ostlund, an executive secretary with
the Salem, Ore.-based Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Assn.
Planters in Oregon and Washington didn’t plant enough trees in the
early 1990s to keep up with increasing demand today, he said. Hard
economic times kept them from increasing the acreage for trees, which
take seven to 10 years to grow.
According to the group, 34 million to 36 million trees will be
harvested nationwide for the holiday that celebrates the birth of Christ.
Oregon produces the most, followed by North Carolina and Washington.
During the recession when prices were low, hardware and grocery stores
began to dip into the $360-million industry, Ostlund said. That trend has
continued according to one local economist.
“Traditionally, you bought a Christmas tree from a leased lot,” said
Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles County Economic
Development Corporation. “Now you have mainstream merchants getting
involved. The trend in retailing is the seasonal item of the moment.”
Most trees that end up in Burbank living rooms come from Oregon and
Washington and migrate south on the Golden State (5) Freeway in December.
Noble firs, one of 60 species of Christmas trees, are especially hard
to find this year because demand has increased relative to other trees,
Ostlund said.
“Nobles seem to have ideal characteristics -- the needle retention is
good, and they’re a nice, deep green color,” he said.
The trees are more expensive because they take longer to grow and are
more labor intensive, Ostlund said.
Casella, whose family has been in the Christmas tree business since
1937, said he is prepared for next season. He held 3,500 Nobles on his
tree farm in Washington to have extras for Christmas 2000.
“I’m OK for next year,” he said.
TREE PRICES
Prices at Four Burbank Christmas tree lots:
* Burbank High School, 902 N. Third St.
6-foot Douglas fir: $34.95.
5-foot Noble fir: $51.95.
* Burbank YMCA Christmas Trees, corner of Alameda and Olive avenues.
5-to-7.5-foot Douglas fir: $24.
6-foot Noble fir: about $55.
* Stevenson Christmas Tree Sale, corner of San Fernando Boulevard and
Elmwood Avenue.
5-to-7-foot Douglas fir: $21.95.
6-to-7-foot Noble fir: $31.95.
* Oliver Holt Sons and Daughters Christmas Trees, corner of N. Pass
Avenue and Heffron Drive.
6-foot Douglas fir: $24 to $29.
6-foot Noble fir: $42 to $49.