Jami Warner

While getting our Christmas tree is usually a family event, this year I was simply too busy to come along. And it’s usually a no-brainer anyway. A lot just around the corner from our home typically has an abundance of beautiful, reasonably priced trees. We buy from them every year. But this year was different. Hours passed after my family left to get the tree. They finally returned with an adequate but, to be honest, somewhat shabby tree. They reported something I had somehow missed despite the headlines: there’s a Christmas tree shortage this year. Not only was our usual supplier sold out, but so were many others. When my family finally found a tree, the seller wanted an exorbitant price. Luckily, my husband talked him down, but it was still over double what we usually pay. So I wasn’t surprised when I read in my news feed: “The crisis unfolding in America’s tree capital.” The Dec. 22 Guardian article details how Oregon’s late June heat wave and summer of drought, which made national headlines, wiped out millions of trees across the state. Oregon is the nation’s largest producer of Christmas trees, and many tree farmers described it as the worst summer in memory. According to the article: Larry Ryerson, co-owner of U Cut Christmas Tree Farm in Medford, OR, lost 4,500 trees. Dana Furrow, co-owner of Furrow Farm in Hillsboro, OR, lost thousands of seedlings, along with virtually all of its harvestable, u-cut Noble fir trees. Noble Mountain Tree ...