ODA Inspectors Busy with Christmas Trees

Not to scare you, but it’s less than two months to Christmas, approximately eight weeks, and that means Christmas trees will be going up soon in homes across the Northwest.

The largest supplier of Christmas trees in the U.S., Oregon, is preparing to ship their trees across the world, but first Inspector Christy Brown of the Oregon Department of Agriculture said they need to be looked over.

“It’s really important for the industry. We are sort of the gatekeeper for a lot of this trade that goes on. I would say that of all the things that get shipped around in the world, live or recently living materials from the wild are really good ways to spread around diseases and insects.”

At this point, trees are already on their way to Japan, Singapore, Guam and a lot of U.S. military bases.

There has already been one relatively major problem that has popped up according to Brown.

“The market hasn’t really changed too much from a regulatory point of view this year. As inspectors, we are finding a lot of Douglas fir twig weevil, so we’re being extra careful to make sure we certifying that correctly. That’s for Mexico, that’s their concern.”

With Oregon being the nation’s top producer of Christmas trees, ODA says it’s vital that inspectors help ensure the state’s reputation for shipping high quality, pest and disease-free trees.