If you’re looking for a Christmas tree this holiday season, you may be in luck.
Starting Thursday, the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge will open its land for harvesting Christmas trees. If you need a Christmas tree, you can cut down a spruce almost anywhere on the refuge through Christmas Day.
Andy Loranger is the refuge manager. He says the annual tradition goes back before his more than 30 years at the refuge.
“It’s a long tradition, and I know that a lot of families on the peninsula, and even traveling from elsewhere, enjoy that tradition and are still getting their Christmas trees here,” Loranger said.
Harvested trees must not be more than 20 feet tall, and they must be cut low to the ground with hand tools like hatchets or handsaws. That means you can’t use a chainsaw. They also can’t be harvested within 150 feet of a road, trail, picnic area, campground or body of water.
The area near the Refuge Headquarters and Visitor Center in Soldotna is off limits, too.
Loranger says the tradition is a great opportunity for families to get out on the refuge together.
“I mean, it’s an outdoor activity that can be enjoyed by the entire family," he said. "I think it’s something that’s generally a family activity, and it gets them outside.”
Christmas trees are limited to one per household. Loranger says white and black spruce trees are plentiful on the refuge and cutting them down does not harm the local ecosystem.
