Abandoned Christmas Tree Program

An abandoned Fraser fir Christmas tree field which harbors balsam woolly adelgid.

This past summer, a request was received by the N.C. Natural Resource Conservation Service to begin a a cost share program to clean up fields of abandoned Christmas trees in western North Carolina. The concern of disease and insects building up on these abandoned trees and then moving into plantations that were being cared for was what led to this request. The program has been approved and is now available to landowners in western North Carolina. The following are some of the specifics to the program. For more information or to enroll, you will need to contact your local Soil and Water Conservation office.

Purpose:
Removal of abandoned Christmas trees to reduce sedimentation. An abandoned tree field may consist of trees of any size where interest has been lost to continue standard management practices for production.

Policies:

1. Trees are to be cut to an appropriate level not to exceed 3 inches. All side branches are to be removed.
2. Debris is to be processed onsite by chipping, windrowing, and/or burning as deemed legal by the Division of Air Quality.
3. Offsite processing or disposal costs will not be covered under this BMP.
4. Re-vegetation with grasses, pines, or hadwoods is required.
5. Payments will be based on actual costs per acre not to exceed $500.
6. If a cooperator is going to graze livestock on cost-shared fields, then he/she must provide at his or her own cost livestock exclusion, watering facilities, stream crossing, etc.
7. The abandoned tree field cannot be replanted into Christmas trees within the maintenance period. The BMP is considered out of compliance if the land use changes (due to the replanted trees or grasses) to another use within the maintenance period.

The following Avery Journal article also has information about this program, "New cost-share program to remove abandoned Fraser fir."