Forestry Club continues tradition of selling trees
By Kyle Spradley, posted 12/02/05

As part of the holiday festivities around town, the MU Forestry Club is selling over 350 real Scotch Pine Christmas trees the first week of December.

According to Forestry Club president, Chris Lohmann, the trees are being sold at the east gate of Faurot Field from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Dec. 1-4.

Trees four to seven and a half feet will be four dollars per foot. Trees that are eight to nine and a half feet will sell for five dollars per foot.  Trees that reach over 10 feet will cost six dollars per foot.

Along with the trees, the club has put together 100-150 wreaths.  They offer 12-inch wreaths that are 15 inches in diameter and cost $15.  For a 16-inch wreath that is 20 inches in diameter, the cost is $20.

“The wreaths have bows, pine cones, and three different types of pines mixed together,” club member Allison Meyer said.

MU has already preordered 60 wreaths that will be used to decorate the campus. Not only will the club be selling the trees and wreaths on campus, but they also plan to sell them at Bass Pro from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3.

The Forestry Club has always sold a good majority of the trees that were harvested from their own private tree farm outside of Columbia. 

“We purchase and plant tree seedlings each year in the spring from a nursery in Indiana,” Lohmann said.

This year, a third of the trees came from their farm and the rest were purchased from several other growers across the state. 

The club originally had a 12-acre farm southeast of Columbia in the 1970’s. The forestry faculty members used to manage the farm and the students were used as labor to harvest the trees.  In the early 1990s, the students took over full responsibility for all farm management and operations. The students now run a tree farm just northeast of Columbia.

The money from the sales of the trees will be used by the Forestry Club throughout the next year for student scholarships and club events. 

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