Drought halts season for one of Rhode Island’s oldest Christmas tree farms
The farm will not be selling any trees this year. Instead, they’ll replant baby trees and let their older trees recover.
By: Tim Studebaker
Facebook: @TStudebakerABC6
Twitter: @TStudebakerABC6
Email: tstudebaker@abc6.com
TIVERTON, R.I. (WLNE) – Clarks Christmas Tree Farm in Tiverton is a popular holiday season destination.
Eric Watne is the owner of the farm. He says, “We see the same people every year, a lot of them. We enjoy seeing them, and they enjoy coming here as a tradition.”
But this year, that tradition is being put on hold. They won’t be selling any trees this season thanks to the drought.
Watne says, “This year was especially brutal. I mean, we probably went five months without any rain.”
He says Christmas tree farms don’t typically have irrigation, and even though we’ve had some rain in recent weeks, the damage here is already done.
Watne says, “I thought that we had done well through the summer, because in the thick of the drought, the trees were all still green. But there’s a delayed impact to the drought, so all of a sudden in the fall, I noticed the trees sort of dying even though it was a little bit wetter.”
He says they lost 200 to 300 baby trees, and while many of their larger trees will survive, some of them aren’t in the best shape. So, they’re taking the year off to replant and recover.
Watne says, “You know, I think a bigger farm can probably still sell trees, have enough trees to market. For us it was a little bit of a tougher hit.”
Watne’s farm is small. It’s not his main source of income. But, he’s also the president of the Rhode Island Christmas Tree Growers Association. He says you should still be able to find local trees at other farms. You can find a list here: https://www.richristmastrees.com/farms/
Meanwhile, Watne is looking forward to next year.
Watne says, “We’ll be back in 2021 so hopefully we’ll see those folks again then.”
© WLNE-TV / ABC6 2020
