Oregon growers ask: Is your evergreen green?

PORTLAND – Picking a Christmas tree is typically a matter of taste. Is the shape right? Is it too tall? Too short

And is it “green” enough?

Christmas tree growers have been pushing the environmental benefits of fresh trees over artificial trees for a number of years. Now a few Oregon growers have created a system to help consumers identify trees grown under certain environmental standards.

“Consumers like to do the right thing,” said Joe Sharp, managing partner of Yule Tree Farms and co-founder of the Coalition of Environmentally Conscious Growers. “We are just helping with education.”

This is the first year the coalition’s program will be seen in the market. More than 200,000 tags will hang on trees, indicating the trees were farmed by the coalition’s standards.

To pass muster, a farm must be inspected to ensure that it meets certain standards for managing wetlands, nutrients and pests. Water and soil conservation measures are reviewed, and biodiversity and worker safety are also considered.

The trees are not organically grown, but the coalition says the measures help mitigate some of the environmental dangers of Christmas tree farming, such as excessive use of pesticides and contribution to erosion.

“Now when consumers buy a tree, they can be sure that the tree was grown with the best intentions for the environment in mind,” Sharp said.

But only a fraction of the trees on corner lots and at garden centers will bear the tag.

The coalition was formed in August, and three large Oregon growers, which harvest more than 2 million trees a year, are part of it. More than a dozen other tree growers are on a waiting list to be inspected and join.

The “safe” trees are sold only by a few retailers willing to make the effort to educate consumers about the difference the coalition believes the tag represents.