By Faye L. Beckwith One of Oswego County's most popular agricultural products is the real Christmas tree. More than 23 Christmas tree farmers in Oswego County wholesale and retail tens of thousands of Christmas trees and wreaths annually. Still, there remains a widespread misconception that natural resources are destroyed when real trees are cut. Farm fields provide habitat for birds and wild animals. Trees cool the air.
Trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby helping to prevent global warming.
In fact young Christmas trees growing rapidly remove more carbon dioxide and release more oxygen than old trees that are growing slowly. And that's not all. Christmas trees are a recyclable, renewal natural resource. Christmas trees and limbs are used to provide fish habitat in ponds, and to control erosion on beaches. When chipped, the real tree can be burned as fuel, used for mulch, or composted to produce new soil and nutrients.