Free Christmas trees are a tradition for South Australian forestry company, OneFortyOne, and the tradition continues in 2023.
Responsible for the stewardship of 95,000 hectares of forest, including 81,500 hectares of plantation forest, OneFortyOne plants over five million trees each year.
The company takes care of not only trees for harvest, but also native forests, wildlife and ecosystems, planning to remove the smaller pine wildlings and working with neighbours to weed the conservation corridors which link areas of native vegetation and new conservation corridors.
General Manager Green Triangle Forests, Deon Kriek, told onefortyone.com the radiata pines which become the free Christmas trees are thinned from different parts of the OneFortyOne estate.
“The trees we give away are basically rogues who grow out of place in our plantations,” Deon said, “destined for a life as a Christmas tree, rather than structural timber.”
The giveaway has gifted hundreds of trees over the years, giving the community the opportunity to safely acquire a fresh tree to bring home and decorate with family and friends.
“This will be my first Christmas in the region, and to celebrate I’ll have one of our trees taking pride of place in our family room,” Deon said “It’s great to be able to share this experience with the community, and I’m looking forward to being part of the local tradition.”
Collection times and locations
Trees will be available from 8:30am on the 7th and 8th of December, on a first-come, first-served basis.
Anyone from the community is welcome to collect a tree from the Glencoe Nursery, OneFortyOne depots in Nangwarry and Mount Burr, and Blue Lake Sports Park in Mount Gambier.
If you’re planning on picking up a free tree, please follow all safety signage at pickup locations, and ensure you can safely and legally secure your tree on the journey home.
Christmas tree locations:
* Glencoe Nursery, Mile Hill Road, Glencoe
* Blue Lake Sports Park, Jubilee Highway East, Mount Gambier
* Nangwarry Depot, Riddoch Highway, Nangwarry, and
* Mount Burr Depot, Mount Burr Road, Mount Burr.
Learn more about OneFortyOne at onefortyone.com.
