Today is the 12th annual Christmas tree harvest.

We've got over 80 hardy volunteers working alongside staff to cut about 420 White Firs off the San Juan National Forest.

We use them as a fundraiser on our Christmas tree lot in Durango, Colorado.

We also are improving forest health by removing trees that are what we call ladder fuel in the event of a wildfire.

White firs tend to grow pretty clustered together, leads to flames traveling up to taller trees.

Local harvest was the idea of a couple of very passionate volunteers of ours.

We have a growing number of people who return to the tree lot year after year, who want the local kind of free form trees.

All of the trees we're cutting today will have found homes probably within two weeks.

This is just such an exciting and great way to bring the community together to kick off the holiday season.