Christmas tree debate lives on
Real trees help protect resources, tree grower says
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Chuck Wright has had it with plastic Christmas trees.
He stops short of calling them un-American but says they definitely are an affront to tradition, harmful to the environment and detrimental to the U.S. economy.
"Wake Up, America! Celebrate Christmas with a real Christmas tree and wreathe while helping protect our valuable non-renewable environment," he proclaims in a pamphlet that he is providing to live tree growers nationwide in an effort to bolster the evergreen tree industry.
Wright, a former mayor of Topeka, has been growing Christmas trees for 23 years on 20 acres of land northwest of Lecompton, which is north of the Kansas River halfway between Topeka and Lawrence.
He launched his national crusade to ban plastic trees in October with an announcement in the fall issue of "Christmas Trees" magazine, which he has published since 1978.
His pamphlet, 5,000 of which he has sent
out so far, emphasizes four points:
Plastic trees and wreaths are made from nonrenewable petroleum.
"Real Christmas trees and wreaths do not harm our environment and our resources," Wright said.
If a plastic tree catches fire, it pollutes the air with toxic fumes.
"A properly cared-for real Christmas tree will not catch fire easily," he said.
Plastic trees cannot be recycled.
"When they are disposed of in a sanitary landfill, they will not disintegrate but will remain there forever, taking up increasingly scarce landfill space," Wright said.
- Plastic trees are manufactured mostly outside the United States.
Kansas, Wright said.
Wright, 74, who served as Topeka's mayor from 1965 to 1969 and whose son, Doug Wright, was mayor from 1981 to 1987, is phasing out his Christmas tree business. But he plans to continue publishing the
"If we can protect the spotted owl,by golly,we can protect the real Christmas tree industry."
There are about 10,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States, with 173 in
"Thousands of jobs have already been lost in the Christmas tree industry because sale and use of fake trees and wreaths continues to be encouraged," he said in the pamphlet.
Chuck Wright Christmas tree grower
magazine.Hehas apaid circulation of 8,000 mostly in the United States, Canada, Mexico Great Britain and Australia.
He and his wife moved in 1970 to the heavily wooded Lecompton acreage, which he inherited when his parents died in 1966. The couple lived in a travel trailer for six months until their home was built.
Wright said he sought the advice of Earl Van Meter, former Douglas County extension agent, on what he might
do with the land, most of which was covered with thick brush and trees. Van Meter recommended raising Christmas trees.
Wright cleared 20 of the 70 acres and got started in the business.
At one point, he had 10,000 trees but is now down to about 2,500, he said. He gradually
has sold them off before Christmas each year and last spring lost about 500 trees to disease when heavy May rains prevented spraying them with fungicide, he said.
Asked why he launched his anti-plastic tree crusade now when he is winding down his business after more than two decades, he replied:
"I've been waiting for some organization to get involved, but the National Christmas Tree Association in Wisconsin didn't pick up on it, so I just decided now is the time to get going."
Wright plans to go to Washington, D.C., early next year to lobby environmental and farm groups and members of the Kansas congressional delegation to join his campaign.
His main selling point will be the economic impact of plastic trees on an American industry.
"Most of these damn things are made outside this country," Wright said. "They don't help our economy a bit, and they're driving our Christmas tree growers out of business."
The National Christmas Tree Association estimates there will be about 30 million live trees sold in the United States this holiday season, down from about 50 million sold in the 1960s.
"If we can protect the spotted owl, by golly,we can protect the real Christmas tree industry," Wright said.
December 8, 1993 K-you • COMMUNITY
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