Capital Press
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Friday, December 24, 2021
Volume 94, Number 52
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THE EVOLUTION OF
THE CHRISTMAS TREE
Industry searches
for a better tree
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
T
he Christmas tree industry has forced itself to
evolve.
In less than a century, it’s shifted from
relying on forest byproducts to producing a
highly specializing horticultural crop.
That doesn’t mean the industry’s transfor-
mation is complete.
“It’s just a constant improvement that’s still going on,”
said Ken Brown, a grower and former Oregon State Uni-
versity Extension specialist.
Farmers are becoming less reliant
on seed collected from the wild and
are instead planting seeds grown in
dedicated orchards.
Rather than gamble on inherited
traits, they’re now shaping the genet-
ics of Christmas trees by selecting the
best specimens and allowing them to
cross breed.
The breeding eff ort is a mix of
private and public endeavors: Farm-
ers have established their own seed
orchards, as have universities such as
OSU.
“More and more, we rely on seed
orchards to get seed,” said Cal Land-
gren, OSU Extension’s tree special-
Mateusz Perkowski
ist. “My motivation is to get the most
Capital Press
seed out of the most trees to the most
Farmers pre-
growers as widely as possible.”
sented Oregon
State University
‘Intriguing’ crop
The prospect of refi ning a rela- offi cials with a
tively new crop is precisely what 30-foot Christ-
drew Ken Brown to the Christmas mas tree
tree industry several decades ago.
“It was something intriguing for me — just taking a
wild tree and culturing it to make it into a good-looking
Christmas tree,” he said. “Growers are always experiment-
ing on their cultural practices and we’re always selecting
better seed stock.”
Production in the Pacifi c Northwest has long been dom-
inated by Noble fi rs and Douglas fi rs, but the industry is
increasingly interested in several species that originated
along the coast of the Black Sea: Nordmann fi rs, Turkish
fi rs, and most recently, Trojan fi rs.
See Tree, Page 9
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Cal Landgren, Oregon State University Extension Christmas tree specialist, examines a Trojan fi r tree
at the university’s seed orchard in Aurora, Ore. The species is the most recent among several that orig-
inated near the Black Sea to draw attention from Northwest growers.
Reindeer farm spreads Christmas cheer
By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
Cindy Murdoch, 65, owner of Timber-
view Farm, stretched out her hand.
“C’mere, silly,” she said.
A reindeer wearing a red and green hal-
ter bearing the name “Comet” in white let-
tering stepped forward, allowing Murdoch
to stroke its antlers.
When the average American thinks
of reindeer, said Murdoch, they think of
Santa Claus. Reindeer have been synon-
ymous with Christmas since Clement C.
Moore penned his famous poem, “A Visit
from Saint Nicholas,” in 1823.
According to Michelle Dennehy, Ore-
gon Department of Fish and Wildlife
spokeswoman, this is Oregon’s only per-
mitted reindeer operation, a farm with
nine licensed reindeer.
Because of the folklore surrounding
fl ying reindeer, Murdoch said people are
often surprised to learn that reindeer are
real.
“Some people think they’re like uni-
corns,” said Murdoch. “They think they’re
fairytale creatures.”
Experts say the species, though not
magical, is remarkable.
The reindeer, a member of the Cervi-
dae family of hoofed ruminant mammals,
is a circumpolar species, meaning it lives
in countries all around the arctic circle,
according to the Smithsonian Institution.
Reindeer have been domesticated for
millennia. According to a 2021 study in
the Journal of Anthropological Archae-
ology, “reindeer herding has been cultur-
ally and economically important for many
peoples.”
The earliest known domestication,
according to the Journal, can be traced
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
See Reindeer, Page 9
Reindeer at Timberview Farm in Oregon.
Oregon grower keeps chestnut industry alive
SWEET HOME, Ore. — Carol
Porter recalls sitting in a doctor’s
offi ce in the mid-1980s, fl ipping
through National Geographic, when
she came across a story on chestnuts.
The article brought back child-
hood memories. Her parents, Ital-
ian immigrants, had exposed her to
roasted chestnuts and sweetbreads
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press made with chestnut fl our when she
Carol Porter, 79, owner of Sweet was little. Porter said she wondered
Home Chestnut Farm, peels a if she could plant an orchard.
chestnut.
It would be a big change of pace;
Porter and her
husband, now
deceased, were
cattle ranchers,
riding horse-
Sierra Dawn McClain back often 20
Capital Press miles a day
Chestnuts from on
Colorado
Sweet Home
ranges.
Chestnut Farm.
“This was
altogether dif-
ferent,” said Por-
ter, 79.
The couple settled in Sweet
Home, Ore., where they started a
grass-fed beef and pork operation
Me r r y
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and, in the early 1990s, planted a
chestnut orchard.
Today, Sweet Home Chestnut
Farm is one of about 10 chestnut
operations in the Northwest, keep-
ing alive the tradition of “chestnuts
roasting on an open fi re.”
According to Oregon State Uni-
versity’s Extension Service, the hard-
wood American chestnut grew in
vast stands across the continent when
early settlers arrived. The chestnuts
were a staple for both settlers and
many wildlife species.
See Chestnuts, Page 9
ONTARIO CALDWELL
JED MYERS
NIAL BRADSHAW
ALAN BULLARD
BECKY TEMPLE
GAYE DOANATO
KENDRA BUTTERFIELD
LOGAN SCHLEICHER
S228630-1
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
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