A couple of years after the Society for the Safety of New Hampshire Forests began a Christmas tree farm, Nigel Manley, who oversaw the operations, started noticing some fascinating developments among the many rows of aromatic balsam and Fraser firs lining the land.
Within the spring, areas across the youthful timber drew floor nesters like bobolinks — songbirds that migrate to and from South America — killdeer and woodcocks, who availed themselves of the open areas to carry out their courtship flights and rear their younger. Deer hid their fawns in lengthy grasses. Waxwings and robins nested in older timber, their younger fledging many months earlier than harvest. Mice and voles dwelling on the land drew foxes and migratory raptors equivalent to kestrels and harriers, who feasted on the cornucopia every time the grass was mowed.
In these climatically perilous instances, when the cooling and oxygenating properties of timber have by no means been extra valued, it appears counterintuitive to assist chopping them down. But, the ecological benefits of actual Christmas timber are why many environmentalists endorse them over the faux, petroleum-based variations which might be shipped from half a world away.
Christmas tree farms can operate very like younger forests, stated Andy Finton, a forest ecologist with the Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts. Two to 3 saplings are typically planted for each tree harvested, and, in response to Jill Sidebottom, a spokeswoman for the Nationwide Christmas Tree Affiliation, Christmas tree farms are sometimes cultivated on in any other case unused farmland, permitting growers to maintain their inexperienced areas.
“They’re pulling carbon from the atmosphere,” Mr. Finton stated of the timber. “They’re cleaning the air and, in many cases, cleaning the drinking water. They’re keeping the landscape undeveloped, preventing impervious surfaces, by giving economic incentives to landowners.”
With intense improvement pressures and accelerating lack of pure woodlands, he stated, tree farms can present habitats for wildlife, particularly birds and mammals that choose open areas at forest edges.
A German study revealed final yr discovered that conifer plantations may present essential refuges for 4 threatened species of farmland birds: the widespread linnet, tree pipit, woodlark and yellowhammer. The place floor cowl is used, pollinating bugs can profit. Ten years in the past, researchers documented 80 plant species at tree farms in North Carolina, together with milkweed rising waist-high on the edges of fields, which drew 17 genera of bees and predatory bugs that wolfed up tree pests.
Tom Norby, the president of the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Affiliation, stated {that a} small portion of the timber have been harvested annually, leaving roughly 90 p.c rising and out there for animals. On his personal farm, he has seen deer, rabbits, a pygmy owl, bears, coyotes and cougars, who comply with elk that forage in his fields when mountain ranges are coated in snow.
Help for the farms shouldn’t be common. Nathan Donley, the environmental well being director on the Middle for Organic Variety, stated that an actual tree was far preferable to a plastic one, and that Christmas tree farms have been ecologically superior to golf programs or athletic fields.
However he stated that the massive tree farms, notably these within the Pacific Northwest, have been typically tightly packed, single-crop plantations. Whereas meals crops are typically sprayed extra instances a yr, he stated he was involved that the longer development cycle of Christmas timber may imply a heavier, cumulative load of pesticide, which may find yourself in close by rivers or streams. “You’re really grasping at straws for species that find benefit,” Dr. Donley stated. “In the interest of efficiency, sustainability takes a back seat.”
But Bert Cregg, a professor of horticulture and forestry at Michigan State College, stated that whereas pesticide use diverse by species and area, Christmas tree growers typically wish to decrease use of the chemical substances. . Pesticides are costly, he stated, and lots of growers dwell on-site and don’t wish to be uncovered. He additionally stated the elevated use of floor cowl, equivalent to clover, lowered soil temperatures and drew in nitrogen, lowering the necessity for fertilizers.
Between 2013 and 2018, Christmas tree growers in North Carolina reported a 21 percent discount in pesticide use. Mr. Norby additionally stated that insecticide use was lowering.
By the point timber attain customers, consultants agree, there’s minimal residual pesticide left. There are additionally natural growers who supply untreated timber.
On the problem of whether or not it’s advisable or moral to cut down timber, David Mizejewski, a naturalist with the Nationwide Wildlife Federation, stated Christmas timber needs to be considered as an agricultural commodity.
“I grew up thinking the same, like, ‘Oh, no, killing the tree is bad,’” Mr. Mizejewski stated. However that “urban environmentalist” angle, he stated, amounted to a simplified view of the complexity of life, and loss of life, on the planet. “Just like you eat broccoli, you kill the broccoli plant, right?” he stated.
After Christmas, he stated, many municipalities grind up Christmas trees for compost or use them as bulwarks against beach erosion. They are often sunk into ponds for fish habitats or damaged as much as provide shelter for yard critters.
“None of that is to say that a Christmas tree farm is a replacement for untouched nature,” Mr. Mizejewski stated. “I encourage people to think of things through an ecological lens, where everything has a life cycle. And what’s more important is that while it’s living, it’s actually contributing to that ecosystem.”
