The Iowa Christmas Tree Growers Association loaded up 80 trees Monday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds to be sent to U-S service members in the “Trees for Troops” program. Iowa association executive director, Jan Pacovsky, says it’s an annual tradition the growers look forward to. Pacovsky says they have been taking part in the program since 2005 as a way to say thank you to all of the military members for the things that they do. 

The growers bring in the trees and FedEx donates the shipping. She says the shipping started in October, sending trees to Europe, Iran and Afghanistan, and then they use trucks here to hall the donated trees to bases where they can be shipped out. Pocvsky says it has been a popular program. “We get a lot of good response back, and we get a lot of response even from people who have (family members) in the military, that they really feel it’s a good cause,” Pacovsky says. She says people who don’t have family members in the military like the program and will sometimes donate trees or money to help with the costs. 

Pacovsky says the growers in the U-S have a goal of reaching 100-thousand trees since the start of the program in 2005. She believes they will get close to that goal this year. There are just over 100 choose and cut Christmas Tree farms in Iowa, with close to 15-hundred acres in tree production. Approximately 39-thousand trees are harvested annually across the state.

This year trees were donated by dozens of tree farms, including the Horse Creek Farm in Sidney.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)