Scott Cory, a PhD student studying Fraser firs, walks up a road littered with coyote scat, then climbs a bank into the forest. It is a classic spruce-fir forest, just like Neufeld hiked in his youth.

Scott Cory, who’s been studying Fraser firs for nearly a decade, in a fir forest on Roan Mountain, in Tennessee. (Irina Zhorov/For WHYY) After leaving the forest, Cory walked farther up the road until ...

Ninety percent of mature Fraser fir trees in the Great Smoky Mountains alone have been killed in the last 50 years, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden. And when Fraser firs die, that has a ...

He and his team are reading the DNA of Fraser firs to find out how best to protect them, and beating the root rot is job No.1. It's a challenge because once the rot hits, it's almost impossible to ...

Fraser fir prefers a rich, moist, slightly acidic soil that is well drained. It does best in loamy soils; heavy clays drain too slowly and will cause Fraser fir to suffer and decline.

Christmas tree growers in Atlantic Canada are monitoring the spread of a disease and looking for ways to combat it.

Therefore, Fraser fir are only found naturally at high elevations – above 5,000 feet – along the Appalachian mountains. There are around six to nine little pockets of Fraser fir in these areas.

The Fraser fir is found all across the eastern part of the United States, from North Carolina and Tennessee to the upper Great Lakes, and is exceedingly popular—namely because it’s hardy ...

The Great Recession of the late 2000′s is to blame for the shortage, as it takes approximately a decade for a Fraser fir to grow to the average height for a Christmas tree.

Missouri Botanical Garden Horticulturist Travis Hall climbs a Fraser fir to collect cones in 2019. An invasive sapsucking insect is wreaking havoc on the Fraser fir, one of the most popular Christmas ...