In this episode of CuriosiD, we begin to answer the question:

What happens to the Campus Martius tree after the holidays? 

… By first looking into where our Christmas trees come from.  

At Hillside Christmas Tree Farm in southern Michigan, the work of growing holiday trees begins long before December.

Tony Stefani runs the multi-generation family operation, and also serves as president of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association. He first became involved with the organization more than a decade ago, after his father brought him to a growers’ meeting.

“I had no idea how large this industry truly is,” he says. “There’s a farm in Michigan that sells a million trees annually. It’s quite astonishing when you consider the scale of this business.”

What customers want to know

Customers at Hillside Christmas Tree Farm often ask how long their trees will last. Stefani says a fresh-cut tree should hold up through the holidays. “I’ve received photos in mid-February showing trees still standing and even beginning to sprout new growth,” he says.

Another category of questions has to do with ornaments. “I’m very detail-oriented,” Stefani says. “If you have heavy decorations, I recommend certain species based on their characteristics.”

Tree height is also a growing topic, especially as more homes are built with vaulted ceilings. He says, “There is a strong market for tall trees…but taller trees are generally older [and take] more time in the ground, more effort, and higher costs.”

Better for the environment?

Questions about sustainability are becoming increasingly common, and Stefani believes the benefits of real Christmas trees are clear.

“We offer a product that spends seven to ten years growing in nature, supporting various microecosystems, ” Stefani says. “One acre of trees produces enough oxygen for 18 people.”

He contrasts that with artificial trees, which are “manufactured on assembly lines from petroleum-based materials,” arguing that there’s no environmental case in their favor.

Real trees are also biodegradable. He says that after the holiday season, a tree can be recycled and mulched. “On our farm, we recycle the waste and return it to the land, something that can’t be done with artificial trees,” Stefani says.

A Michigan tree heads to the White House

This year, Michigan earned national attention in the industry. “For the first time in 38 or 40 years, Michigan won the national competition,” Stefani says. Corson’s Tree Farm  will send a roughly 15-foot concolor fir to the White House.

“If you win the state competition, you can compete nationally,” he explains. “And if you win nationally, your tree is presented to the president and the first lady.”

Beyond the holidays

Hillside has become a hub for other members of the community. Beekeepers place hives on the property during the summer. Search-and-rescue teams train their dogs on the acreage. Falconers and professional photographers also make use of the farm.

“We’ve hosted hives for supporting pollination,” Stefani said. “Search and rescue training, falconry activities, and collaborations with photographers seeking scenic backgrounds are also part of what we do.”

It takes time to grow 

Stefani says one of the biggest misconceptions about the industry is how much time it takes for a Christmas tree to grow to commercial height. “I wish people understood how long these trees are actually in the ground,” he said. “The trees we harvested this year were planted back in 2016.”

As president of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association, Stefani says many growers worry about how difficult it is to enter the business, mainly because trees take years to mature before they can be sold.

“Our biggest competitor is the artificial tree,” he says. “Entering this business can be quite difficult for new growers. You’re typically looking at a 7 to 10-year period before you start recouping your investment.”

As the holiday season approaches, he says one of the things he wants those searching for the perfect Christmas tree to understand is the time, energy, and effort it takes to bring this holiday centerpiece to your home.

Stay tuned for the next CuriosiD, where we answer what happens to our Christmas trees after the holidays.

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More CuriosiD

This past spring, the city of Rochester became home to a ‘micro forest,’ a dense grove of trees and shrubs planted in an area as small as 1,000 square feet. 

The micro forestry concept began in Japan and aims to support birds, insects, and other pollinators in heavily urbanized communities. Specifically helping to remediate degraded soil caused by human development. 

Rochester City Council member Marilyn Trent spearheaded the project with the help of volunteers, arborists, and city officials. 

“The response from the community was absolutely phenomenal,” she says. 

Trent based Rochester’s micro forest on the famous Miyawaki method of planting native plants, trees and shrubs thirty times as dense as usual, a very different method of helping water mitigation, pollinator species support, and carbon capture than re-foresting or rewilding land. “We’re not trying to replicate a forest,” Trent adds.  

Trent says other cities in metro Detroit have reached out with interest in replicating the project in their communities. With one growing season successfully over, she says the biggest lesson so far is be prepared to water, water, water. 

“Keep it watered…that is one thing. And thank goodness for the DPW [Department of Public Works] when the drought starts coming in July or August, you have to keep it watered,” she says.

This story is a part of WDET’s Detroit Tree Canopy Project

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is giving money to 25 communities and organizations to help grow local urban tree canopies.

Awardees include the cities of Oak Park, Ferndale, Port Huron, and St. Clair Shores, as well as non-profit groups like Arboretum Detroit and Detroit Horsepower.

Kerry Gray, who works with the DNR’s Urban and Community Forestry program, explains that these grants are part of a long-standing partnership with the DTE Energy Foundation.

“The DNR has worked with the DTE Energy Foundation since probably almost 30 years now, providing grants to communities and organizations for tree planting to help expand their tree canopy and strengthen local green infrastructure,” Gray says.

She says one goal of the grant is making sure the new trees are species diverse to help prevent problems like the widespread tree loss caused by invasive pests.

“I think we’ve all seen the devastation that happened when the emerald ash borer came in and attacked [a] species that we had an overabundance of, which was ash,” Gray says. “We really focus on making sure that all of our grantees are using a diverse palette of species…we work with them and provide support to help them select species that are suitable for their sites and locations.”

More information about Michigan’s tree canopy initiative can be found through the Mi Trees program, which aims to plant and care for 50 million new trees across the state by 2030.

This story is part of WDET’s ongoing series, The Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

In June, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that they wanted to rescind the Roadless Rule, arguing that it created needless obstacles to land management. However, many conservationists say reversing this decision puts millions of forest acreage at risk.

The Roadless Rule, established in 2001, protects about 60 million acres of National Forest land all across the U.S., including Michigan. These areas have no roads, logging, or mining. Outdoors lovers, conservationists, and others value these lands for their natural wilderness. 

When the rule was first proposed, it received over 1.5 million public comments in support, showing strong public backing.

Effects in Michigan

If the Roadless Rule is repealed, 16,000 acres in Michigan could be harmed. Most of Michigan’s roadless areas are in the Upper Peninsula including the Hiawatha National Forest, as well as parts of the Lower Peninsula, in the Manistee National Forest and Ottawa National Forest.

Anna Medema is the Sierra Club’s Associate Director of Legislative and Administrative Advocacy for forests and public land. She says keeping the Roadless Rule in effect is vitally important. “Once you build a road into a forest area it could take decades or centuries if you were to decommission these roads and try to let it regrow wildly,” Medema says. “Those wild characteristics are really rare.”

Trump administration officials say that removing the protections could help reduce wildfires by facilitating forest management. However, research shows that wildfires tend to happen more often in areas with roads because of human activity, negating potential benefits of road access.

In Michigan, wildfires are generally less common and less serious. Additionally, building roads and logging could actually raise the risk of fires.

The public can comment on the Roadless Rule here until September 19. 

This story is part of WDET’s ongoing series, The Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

Palmer Park provides a peaceful escape from the noisy, hot summer streets of Detroit. 

Spanning roughly 70 acres of forest, the park is home to over one hundred native plant species including treasured, towering oaks — some of which are centuries old. It serves as a sanctuary for wildlife such as pollinator bees, butterflies, birds, deer, and coyotes. 

There are many reasons that Palmer Park is one of the most popular urban parks in Detroit, but taking a closer look at the conditions of the tree canopy has one forestry educator concerned for the future.  

Southeast Michigan forestry educator Jackson Gorland founded the Michigan Forestry Club to share his passion for trees with the public.

Jackson Gorland identifying sassafras in Palmer Park

He recently conducted a forest forensics lesson at Palmer Park on a hot, humid Tuesday where he said that fewer tree species are thriving in the park without human intervention, risking reduced biodiversity.  

“Having a diversity of species in there…not just relying on a couple of species that are shade tolerant,” Gorland says. “Absolutely have beech in there, absolutely have sugar maple in… it’s [about] creating a mosaic of different conditions that promotes biodiversity.”

Gorland stresses that hands-on actions are needed to ensure the survival of Palmer Park’s oaks, which require full sunlight. According to

Gorland, shade-tolerant species are crowding them out. There are also more mature oaks than young saplings, a sign that future survival is in jeopardy.

The park recently did a prescribed burn to help young oaks, but further consistent interventions are needed, says Gorland. 

The Michigan Forestry Club plans to host additional forest forensics classes across parks in Metro Detroit and Ann Arbor.

This story is part of WDET’s ongoing series, The Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

WDET’s Natalie Albrecht contributed to this report.

Editor’s note: Edited on 9/2/25 to correct a misattribution in photo caption. Gorland is identifying sassafras, not saffron. We apologize for the error. 

Heat is now the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S. — with 12,000 lives claimed annually — and this number is expected to increase significantly by the turn of the century.

In large cities, temperatures in the summer can reach even higher than normal due to the “urban heat island” effect. 

New data compiled by the nonprofit American Forests and the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation identifies areas in cities across the United States that lack enough protection from the sun.  These areas are known as “shade deserts.” 

The new shade map covers more than 100 of the country’s biggest urban areas, including Detroit.

One effective way to stay cooler is by increasing shade, especially through planting trees, which can reduce the effects of high temps significantly. But according to American Forests a lack of shade in Detroit — especially at bus stops and along roadways — is harming thousands. 

Less than 60% of households in Detroit have air conditioning, said Chris David, vice president of GIS & Data Science at American Forests. Additionally, he says those using public and alternative transit are even more at risk of heat-related illness and death. 

“I think there’s about 5,000 bus stops in Detroit,” David said. “About 90% of those 5,000 bus stops have poor shade.” 

He says bus shelters provide “very little” sun protection, with only about 5% of bus stops in the city covered.  

“That means we estimated about 85,000 daily transit riders in Detroit….they’re left exposed to the sun when they’re waiting for the bus… and that can have dire effects,” David said.

David says Detroit will benefit from a strategic plan to increase the tree canopy, with groups like the Greening of Detroit working toward that goal in partnership with city government. 

You can view the American Forests/UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation shade map here. 

This story is part of WDET’s ongoing series, The Detroit Tree Canopy Project.