In North America, the Christmas tree is symbolic of gathering and exchanging goodwill. Some prefer the no-hassle fake trees that can be used year after year, but I prefer the imperfections and pungent aroma of a real tree living in our home for the holidays. But just how easy is it to get your own fresh tree from the Nicola Valley and do it legally?
Well I’ve dug into that for you with some information taken from the B.C. forestry site. Any person, who is 19 years or older and resides in British Columbia is allowed to cut a Christmas tree free of charge from Crown lands after obtaining a Christmas Tree Permit. You can download a pre-approved Christmas Tree Permit from the link at www.for.gov.bc.ca. Crown Land areas include: hydro rights-of-way (Crown-land portions only); logging roads (within three metres - 10 feet-of the edge of the road; and open range lands. They recommended that you cut your tree from dry, rocky sites or south slopes within the permitted areas for better Christmas trees.
You are allowed to cut up to a maximum of 3 trees per family. Depending on your location, they say Douglas fir on dry sites produces the best Christmas trees. However, lodgepole pine, spruce, balsam and other minor species may be designated for cutting where Douglas fir is not available. If you can, try to leave the bottom one or two branches on the stump of the tree, which may grow into another Christmas tree for future cutting.
A week ago now, with the permit in the glove box, the Morash family drove down a forest road, hunting for the perfect Balsam Christmas tree. I prefer Balsam trees because they seem to hold their needles for longer due to their high sap content. We made an afternoon of it. We packed a lunch, made a fire, and roasted some hot dogs and drank hot chocolate. This is a tradition shared by many Canadian families (with some variation on tree selection and choice of beverages). This year we brought along a guest. Our family is currently host parents to 17–year-old Akane, a Rotary exchange student from Japan. Akane had never experienced driving through the woods let alone building a fire in the winter snow. She helped gather wood and break sticks into kindling and warmed her hands over the open fire for the first time. After lunch, with saw in hand, we picked out a couple of trees; one for our family and one for a co-workers family who could not make it out into the forest this year.
Our tree now stands in our home decorated with a mixture of store-bought and homemade decoration. It has become the centrepiece of our home and soon the bottom of the tree will be filled with gifts to bring smiles to the faces of all. This year's Christmas memories will become traditions and our Christmas would not be the same without a real tree in our home. I hope Akane will tell her family back in Japan about this strange and wonderful North American tradition that we have available to us abundant and free. I hope you have the opportunity to try a real tree this year, too.
— John Morash, Publisher