Drought, fire threaten family Christmas tree business
Omer and Elinor McGee opened El Dorado County’s first Christmas tree farm in 1952 in Grizzly Flats, a Gold Rush-era mountain town some 25 miles from the county seat. The business prospered, and their son Mike eventually took over. … Then came the drought. Low rainfall and a declining snowpack, combined with high temperatures, battered the McGee Christmas trees. Of the seedlings Mike planted in February, one of the hottest and driest on record, 80% died by July. In August, thousands of mature Christmas trees became kindling for a massive wildfire.