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Boulder County goes native over Christmas trees

Contributed by: Jeff Thomas on 11/29/2007

Boulder County has a reputation as a tree-loving place, and when it comes to Christmas trees, it's one of Colorado's hottest locations to sell native Christmas trees - trees that often come from right out of county's own forests.

"I really think that it's actually because of the environmental concern," said Tony Smith, who has sold native Colorado Christmas trees for 29 years from a farm a few hundred yards north of Valmont Road, on 75th Street. "I think people here are know that their forests need thinning and buying these trees helps."

This year, Smith, the self-professed "king of the Charley Brown Christmas trees," has opened up a second stand at the 29th Street Mall in Boulder, near Macy's department store. Still most of the native trees that he sells - about 90 percent of the trees at either stands come from Colorado forests - are taken from thinning projects near Gross Reservoir.

"We were just looking for a place that had local Christmas trees," said Jill Rahall of Boulder, while shopping at Smith's 29th Street Mall location on Nov. 23. "We belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture organization) and we found this place on the Web ( www.coloradoforestproducts.org) . It made sense to us to support a local business that sells trees that were grown locally."

Trees carrying the Colorado Forest Product tags ensure consumers that these trees come from non-irrigated Colorado forests. As such, the sale of these trees support local economies, but more so they support sustainable efforts to keep our forests healthy.

Boulder County usually has six native tree outlets every year, and features long-time retailers such as Smith and Larry Sais, whose Big M lots have been in and around Boulder for 38 years. Sais said environmental awareness is part of the reason native trees sell well, but he think the look and freshness of the native trees are also big parts of the equation.

"Some people just want a really full farm-grown tree, but they really are harder to decorate," Sais said. "Because they are so full you can't get decorations inside of the branches."

Brian Lewis and Thea Allen, of Denver, have been coming to the Big M lot on the northeast corner of 30th and Pearl streets in Boulder for years. They said it is the quality of the trees, which last longer and shed fewer needles than trees shipped in from out of state, that draws them to Boulder.

Sais also sells native trees at his Lafayette location on the southwest corner of Colorado 42 and Arapahoe Road, but it's in Boulder proper that most of his native trees are sold.
And people who have traditionally hunted their trees down with an ax and a U.S. Forest Service permit are also finding that they can skip the cold and the drive and still support Colorado forestry efforts.

From Broomfield, Dan and Jennifer James found their way to Smith's farm lot on 75th Street, taking along their kids and parents, who were moving back to Colorado after living in Largo, Fla., for a number of years.

"It spared me stumbling around in the snow," Dan James said.


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Submitted By: Jamie VanEaton
posted on 12/3/2007 @ 11:43:08 AM
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HEY! You can't get rid of me that quickly. I'm glad to see you are still around! I hope all is well. I miss our discussions. Jamie
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Jeff Thomas has posted 1626 stories and 83 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Jeff Thomas's average story rating is 4.73.
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