Don Coburn

Don Coburn, owner of Skeena Valley Christmas Tree Farm, is scaling down the business after years of supplying the region and province. “[In 2020], I had around 2,000 trees coming in a year and I had customers,” he said. “But then the price of trees went way up four years ago because of a shortage in North America and the world basically, so I began shipping them out to places like Vancouver, Victoria and Squamish.” In 2021, his farm expanded to around 4,200 trees. The following year he had around 3,700, around 2,600 the year after, and this year, he is down to around 1,500. “I was growing too many trees and for a few years, I had too many trees and no customers,” he said, speaking about how, when prices plateaued, he was left with overstocked inventory.  Coburn is unsure how long he will stay in the business.