Forestry Students Sell Christmas Trees to Raise Money for Organic Tree Farm
Who says money doesn’t grow on trees? Last December, the Duke University student chapter of the Society of American Foresters (SAF) sold North Carolina-grown Fraser firs to raise funds to support the creation of a student-managed organic Christmas tree farm in Duke Forest.
The students sold 79 trees in all, raising $1,700 in profits to help fund the farm and other SAF events.
“We sold more than we thought we would in the first year, and I think we’ll go even bigger next year,” said farm manager and third-year Masters of Environmental Management and Masters of Forestry (MEM/MF) student Jon Schaffer. “The stage is set now for the trees to grow, and we’re feeling really positive about the future.”
Using proceeds from the sale, SAF members and student volunteers planted their first batch of 200 organic Leyland cypress, Arizona cypress and Eastern red cedar trees on a three-acre plot of cleared land in Duke Forest in December, and another batch of 75 trees in January.
The full-sized trees will be ready to sell in four or five years, while Schaffer said table-top trees hopefully will be available for Christmas 2010.
The trees sold by SAF last year were not organic, but they were grown using integrated pest management to minimize pesticide use.
Second year MEM/MF student Jesse Leddick said the tree farm offers not only the opportunity to raise more funds for SAF, but also to promote cooperation between other graduate student groups.
“In the end the farm is going to be big enough that we can bring in students from other graduate organizations, even share some proceeds with them, and increase our sense of community, both within the Nicholas School and outside it,” he said.
First year MEM/MF student, Nick Diluzio, said the farm offers a chance for future foresters and business executives to get some real-world experience.
“We’re going to have to learn how to trim the trees and how to prune them to get that good shape that everybody looks for, so we get a lot of hands-on experience,” he said. Since students will be solely responsible for managing the farm, “it will provide a great opportunity for us to practice business administration as well as forestry.”
Leddick and Diluzio believe the SAF Christmas tree farm will offer buyers a more sustainable way to get Christmas trees, and will fill the organic void in the local tree market.
In addition to funding the SAF farm, proceeds from sales will support more educational opportunities for students and bring in more speakers, Leddick said.
