Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], December 01, 1962, Page 7, Image 7

About Montana farmer-stockman. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1947-1993

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
Christmas Trees
Are Created
Not Just Cut
By RAY OZMON, Field Editor
PART OF THE holiday tradition for
many Montanans is a trek through the
wood-s to cut a Christmas tree. Farm
folks go to their own woodlots and city
dwellers drive to the State or National
forest.
This annual romp in the snow is a
lot of fun, but it can sometimes be
disappointing. There's no lack of pines
and firs, but finding a dense, bushy,
symmetrical tree with a deep green
color requires patience and consider
able energy.
If you look in an area that's a con
venient distance from where you park
the car (at least 200 yards from the
road, as required by Forest Service
regulations) the suitable trees have
been picked over. Those remaining are
probably small and poorly shaped. The
needles may have a light green or yel
lowish color. These are blighted trees
that have been left by other Christmas
tree cutters.
Waist-Deep Snow
If you didn't have the foresight to
bring skis or snowshoes along, flound
ering in the waist-deep snow would
probably discourage you from venturing
farther into the forest, and you settle
for a tree that's adequate but some
thing less than you had hoped for.
Even if you have skis or snowshoes
and penetrate into an area that less
venturesome people haven't visited,
your chances of finding an acceptable
tree are still uncertain. Perhaps you'll
run onto a dense thicket where the
trees have long, naked trunks and a
few scraggly branches on top. None of
these will do.
In an open "park" area you'll find
huge, widely spaced Ponderosa pines
that would make excellent saw timber.
The occasional small tree growing in
these open areas might have a pleasing
symmetrical shape, but the branches
are apt to be widely spaced and the
tree lacks the desired density.
After a couple of hours of searching,
é,
f*
if
X .j
0
v
: : ' O
mm
m
iiiil
%
5*
Si
I
mmi
$ a
ft
mm
Pete Klinke Jr. is pictured in a typical Christmas tree producing area. The large stumps arc from saw timber that
was removed. A few mature trees are left for seed production. Undesirable trees from shrubs and malformed trees
have been removed to eliminate competition for the Christmas trees. (MF-S photos)
you will probably think that maybe
the 50 cents a foot they're charging
at the Christmas tree lots in town isn't
too excessive after all. You might also
wonder where those dense, nicely
shaped trees come from and why you
were unable to find one.
Specific Type
The reason is this: A Christmas tree
is a pine or fir, but not every pine or
fir is a Christmas tree. An evergreen
worthy of the name should have short
spacings between the whorls
branches that radiate out of the stem,
or trunk. It should have internodal
branches—branches growing out of the
stem between the whorls. This fills in
the holes and gives the tree density.
It should taper from the base to the
top in a symmetrical, balanced cone.
Needles should be long and dark green.
Seldom does nature produce such a
tree.
With a little help from Montana's
Christmas tree farmers, our private,
state and federal forest lands can be
made to produce the types of pines
and firs that conform to what we have
come to regard as "Christmas trees.
Soil and moisture conditions on a
given forest site will support just so
much growth. Whether it's a dense,
impenetrable thicket or a mature stand
of widely spaced trees, the amount of
growth is the same.
Reseeded Stands
the
stands the trees must be thinned,
pruned and scarred,
y *
Much of Montana's commercial
Christmas tree production is on burned
or logged forest land. In most instances
the trees have reseeded heavily. They
soar skyward seeking the light, Whorls
are widely spaced along the stem.
Crowding causes uneven growth of the
crowns.
To produce Christmas trees on these
Thinning opens up the stand and
gives the trees more room to grow.
i
j.
M
K
y
«
; 'p*:
>
I
* *r-->
*58
j.
p.
i.
9
» i
V
• - ^ ■
w<
mm
#
k jj
m
\
1
These two firs have been pruned and scarred so they will de
velop into dense, bushy Christmas trees. Raising Christmas
trees is a year 'round job for Klinke. There are always trees to
prune and dense, stagnated thickets that must be thinned out
and opened up so the trees will have room to grow.
J
Removing undesirable species—shrubs,
blighted and malformed trees—makes
more soil nutrients and moisture avail
able for the crop trees.
On all trees and root volume is equal
to the above-ground portion. In a
thinned stand both root and top growth
are greatly accelerated. So trees will
develop into marketable Christmas
trees, it is necessary to upset this bal
ance between the root and top. This
is done by pruning the lower branches
and slashing a scar on the stem to
slow down the terminal growth. When
a tree has been pruned and scarred,
the root volume is then greater than
the top.
Dense Growth
To compensate for this imbalance,
whorls grow closer together, Internodal
branches develop along the stem. After
several years, when the top growth is
again in balance with the root volume,
it's a Christmas tree. It's ready for
harvest. If it isn't cut at this time,
the tip, or terminal spike, will grow
rapidly and subsequent whorls will be
widely spaced.
If the tree isn't large enough at the
time when normal terminal growth
resumes, the stem can be scarred a
second time and left to grow a few
more years.
Montana produces perhaps more
Christmas trees than any other state,
and Eureka in Lincoln County modest
ly bills itself the "Christmas Tree Cap
itol of the World." About 90 per cent
of the country is timberland. That
doesn't leave much land for hay mead
ows and pastures. If people in the area
are to make a living, they have to
farm the forests, and Christmas trees
are their principal crop.
Typical of the many full-time Christ
mas tree farmers is Pete Klinke Jr.
He raises trees on 530 acres of private
ly owned land and has leases on about
800 acres of Forest Service land in the
Kootenai National Forest near Eureka.
Klinke's private holdings have been
gradually acquired over the years.
Original owners had sold off the com
mercial timber. They probably didn't
want to get involved in the work re
quired to raise Christmas trees and
could see little point in holding the
land for another 50 to 100 years for
another crop of saw logs.
Main Crop
On his own land Klinke leaves a
few mature trees for seed production
and these may eventually be sold for
timber, but his main concern is the
growing of Christmas trees.
Klinke's Forest Service leases are
managed under an agreement that en
courages the growth of saw timber.
In many of Montana's commercial tim
ber areas the Ponderosa pine and
Larch are the main timber trees. Fir
(Continued on page 14)