AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
North Carolina produces about 1 in 5 of the live Christmas trees sold in the U.S. That includes the 20-foot Fraser fir chosen for the White House this year. The floods a few months ago from Hurricane Helene swept through many tree farms in southern Appalachia, and the extent of the damage is still being determined, as Paul Garber of member station WFDD reports.
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PAUL GARBER, BYLINE: The final trim is being made on a Fraser fir on Roger Hester's Christmas tree lot in Lewisville, North Carolina. He's been selling here every holiday season for more than 30 years. His lot is a couple of hours away from where the tree matured in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hester says the damage from Helene made it tough to reach the trees.
ROGER HESTER: Any farm that's across a creek with a little bridge and any tractor roads that were worn out were destroyed. They all had to be rebuilt just so we could get over there to get the trees.
GARBER: Despite the logistics, he says he's been able to get as many trees as he needs, and his lot is filled with greenery. In fact, he's really pleased with this year's crop.
HESTER: I think we've got prettier trees this year than I've had in four or five years, actually.
GARBER: That's a message that's been hard to get out this year, says Justin Whitehill. He runs the Christmas Tree Genetics program at North Carolina State University. Whitehill says he's heard rumors about prices skyrocketing and growers not having enough to offer. But that's not what he sees, and the narrative could hurt during a time of need.
JUSTIN WHITEHILL: The mountains have already suffered enough this year, and the Christmas tree harvest this year is really being looked at as a ray of hope.
GARBER: But that hope might be temporary. The crop damage caused by Helene is not clear yet, says Jennifer Greene, executive director of the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association.
JENNIFER GREENE: Christmas trees are unlike any other agricultural crop. You can't replant in the spring what they just lost from the hurricane and then it be ready next season. It's an eight to 10-year rotation.
GARBER: That's a problem for Waightstill Avery. He grows Fraser firs on land his family has owned for more than 200 years. Much of his crop is high on slopes, but he lost 60,000 trees from flooding in a low-lying area on a river. Many were still years away from maturity.
WAIGHTSTILL AVERY: This damage you'll see will be eight years down the road. That's where you'll see this.
GARBER: For now, he wants people to buy real Christmas trees, as there are plenty this year that are affordable. He doesn't want buyers to be scared off by rumors of higher prices.
AVERY: If it gets so much, they're going to be looking and saying, maybe we should buy an artificial. And that's what we don't want. We don't want our markets to go to where people even think that. We want them to - where it to be a family tradition for everybody.
GARBER: Avery says buying a North Carolina Christmas Tree this year will help in the recovery as the floods from Helene all but wiped out the fall tourist season in much of the region.
For NPR News, I'm Paul Garber in Lewisville, North Carolina.
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