Louisiana doesn’t typically have snow or reindeer, but its residents keep up with holiday traditions through the Christmas tree industry.Don Reed, LSU AgCenter forestry and wildlife specialist and owner of Leyland Christmas Tree Farm, said not having a major hurricane made this year’s Christmas tree crop better than crops previous years.Reed said hurricanes Katrina and Rita knocked down many trees that would’ve been ready to sell last year, and this year’s trees have already recovered from Hurricane Gustav.Buying live Christmas trees is more environmentally friendly than buying artificial trees, Reed said.”Artificial trees are made from a lot of oil-based materials that basically are not environmentally friendly,” he said. “Also, a lot are produced overseas. They’re made in China — you’re not buying from the U.S.”Reed said a lot of energy and resources go into making artificial trees that end up in a landfill.”With a real tree, you’re getting something that’s fresh … and has uses after it’s taken down,” Reed said. “It’s a good idea for everyone to have a Christmas tree to get you into the Christmas spirit. It’s part of the tradition.”The Society of American Foresters student organization sold Leyland cypress Christmas trees outside the Renewable Natural Resources building last week for its annual fundraiser.”Our school owns a 1,200-acre forest in Washington Parish,” said Cornelis De Hoop, renewable natural resources associate professor and Society of American Foresters adviser. “We raise them there. This year we had 60 [Leyland cypress] trees we’re selling.”De Hoop said the organization uses the money to participate in the Society of American Foresters’ national meeting and in the Foresters Conclave competition where students compete in events like tree identification, log rolling, tree-diameter estimations and timber-volume estimations. He said they’ve raised about $700 so far.De Hoop said the trees are 7 to 8 feet tall and $7 per foot. He said the trees have been 5 or 6 feet tall in the past, which is a more popular size, and in conjunction with the rain, has hindered tree sales.”On Tuesday, it rained so hard that no one wanted to sell trees and no one wanted to buy trees,” he said.Ben Collier, communication studies junior, runs Toy Soldier Christmas Trees on Perkins Road near Bluebonnet Boulevard as part of his father’s business. Collier said he had around 800 leftover trees last year, which he blames on the recession.”The more trees I have left over, the more I have to spend to keep them up,” he said. “I try to get what I can for them to make my money back. I don’t let anyone leave without a tree.”Collier said a man from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries picks up some of his leftover trees to spread them along the coast to fight coastal erosion.Reed said leftover trees can also be used in ponds to attract fish and in yards to attract song birds. Collier said the trees serve a purpose beyond being a tree.”I’ve been doing this since I was 12,” Collier said. “It’s not the tree that people come out for but the feeling. It’s the whole tradition of having something there physically for a family to gather around.”- – – -Contact Mary Walker Baus at [email protected]