Historically Douglas Fir is the tree which pioneered the commercial sale of Christmas trees from the prairies all the way to the west coast. Many of the pioneers who worked in this industry in the Rocky Mountains came from Saskatchewan farms; and after several years of going back for the annual harvest, eventually made their homes there and plied their trade for the remainder of their working careers. The average age for cutters was about 60 years old. Imagine the tenacity of some of these pioneers to slug a chainsaw and hand-tie or mechanically bale bundles of trees at that age.
Stump culture
Douglas Firs are cultured differently than all other species available. Stump culture is the practice of harvesting the top of a tree for example that may be 25 feet tall and training a lower branch to assume dominance and grow to be the next tree at a more reasonable height. I've seen many living stumps with trees growing on them with many previous cuts on them, sometimes more than 10, and you can bet that the first ones were all cut with a hand saw.
The needles of this tree are soft and typically about an inch long, with very pointed buds on the ends of the branches. In the wild they can grow to 250 feet tall. Many older homes, bridges, telephone poles etc., were built with the best materials available in their day, and that material was what is normally referred to as Doug Fir.
Douglas Fir continues to remain a popular tree on the average Christmas tree lot throughout much of Canada, United States and Mexico.
