Homeless Christmas Tree No More

When I served as caretaker to the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge from 1998 to 2008, I established a Christmas tradition of taking the dogs to a recently replanted clearcut on a federal forest, digging up a Doug fir, potting it, and having it become a live tree in my home. Once Christmas was over, I replanted Oregon’s state tree on the refuge. I visited the refuge last February for the first time since I left, 17 years ago, and a couple of those rescued trees are pushing 80-feet tall! What a marvel it was to see my old friends and know that I’d rescued them from a clearcut in the coming decades.

I got away from that tradition after I left the refuge, but I renewed it the other morning by digging up a four-foot Doug fir from a recently replanted Coos County forest clearcut along Seven Devil’s Road.

In other words, a homeless tree (because a future clearcut in the life of a tree is no home at all) will find long-lasting life in my back yard. Right now, I am looking at it all lit up, smelling wonderful, potted in a bucket I discovered on a Coos Bay beach on one of my morning walks with Elmer.

This is no Charlie Brown Christmas tree. That tree was dead. Yes, they are similarly bent, but give this tree time, and it will straighten up, and live as long as this house lives. It is no longer homeless.

Please consider supporting an Oregon independent publisher this holiday season by purchasing Gift of the Oregon Magi.

The book can be purchased directly from Nestucca Spit Press at www.nestuccaspitpress.com or via Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR4TDMFR