OUR
MISSION At Noble Mountain our mission
is to grow trees with exceptional quality for our customers
and provide the highest possible customer service in
the industry. We strive for honesty, integrity and customer
satisfaction with every transaction, large or small.
Our goal is to be stewards of the land and continue
to grow trees while benefiting the environment.
Wholesale
Christmas Trees from Oregon
Since 1976, Noble Mountain has been one of the world's largest
wholesale Christmas tree suppliers of Plantation Noble Fir,
Douglas Fir, Scotch Pine and Grand Fir. Over the years the
market has continually changed which has given us the opportunity
to now also grow and offer several other varieties of trees
such as Nordmann Fir.
Our combined farms total over 4,000
acres and along with our headquarters are strategically located
on the edge of, and within, Oregon's famed and fertile Willamette
Valley. Noble Mountain Tree Farm is in a region foresters
say is one of the finest natural tree growing areas in the
world.
Here, where winters are crisp and moist, and summers are sunny
and mild, Noble, Grand and Douglas Fir trees flourish. Nurtured
by experienced hands, they are brought to perfection in late
fall and helicopter-harvested mere hours before shipment to
meet the growing American demand for natural trees at Christmas.
Thanks to technology and years of experience we have the ability
to service large and small customers alike. Our highly skilled
staff and sales people can help meet your every need whether
it’s a single mixed species load of 250 trees or an
order of 100,000 or more with multiple drops and mixed species.
Our sales data over the years has helped us develop some of
the best sell through percentages in the industry for our
customers.
Here's What a Buyer Should
Know About Noble Mountain Tree Farm
Harvested
trees are selected from a planting of 5 million trees
to assure both uniformity and quality
Trees
are individually baled to minimize breakage and shipping
costs
Mechanized
and modern shipping area provides the buyer with clean,
crisp, undamaged trees
All-weather
roads in loading area means trucks move out on schedule
Trees
are sold in 1-foot increments from 2 to 10 feet in height
Noble Mountain will - on request:
Direct
ship to store or lots in truckload or less then a truckload
quantities.
Drop
shipment throughout the selling season on larger orders
to help our customers with their cash flow and to maintain
freshness.
Mix
loads of Noble, Douglas, Grand Fir, and other species
to help meet the diversified needs of the consumer.
Trees Available from Noble Mountain Tree Farm
Cultured
Noble Fir - individually cultured for the full "natural"
Noble look
Premium
plantation Douglas Fir - sheared and shaped to the ideal
Christmas tree shape
Grand
Fir - individually cultured to create the thick, bushy
look preferred by Grand buyers
Nordmann fir - cultured to grow symmetrically with full foliage
Note to Buyers
To assure November/December availability of trees, tentative
orders should be placed by the previous June. The buyer's
schedule of delivery dates should be set in late September
and no later than October 15.
Tree price lists are available by calling Noble Mountain at
800-676-7719. We have operators taking calls on a 24-hour
basis during the buying and harvesting season and your call
is welcome at anytime.
Over the years Noble Mountain Tree Farm has developed a reputation
for consistent high quality, prompt delivery, and competitive
prices. The combination of ownership and management experience
totals more than 150 years. That is a fact which figures in
our ability to deliver a fresh, highly profitable product
to our customers.
We sincerely believe we offer the buyer more than other major
growers and stand ready at anytime to respond to your questions.
We have been and will continue to be a leader in the production
and delivery of legendary quality trees to satisfied customers.
HISTORY
By Joy Stohr
Close to 34 years ago, the Christmas Tree growers in the Northwest
had a very good reason to be concerned – the possibility
of a flooded tree market was very real.
In the hills near Salem, OR, Crown Zellerbach Company had
been quietly growing noble fir Christmas Trees on over 1,000
acres. Up to this time, the industry was primarily made up
of family businesses and small landowners growing trees on
dozens of small tree farms.
Crown Zellerbach was the first large corporation to enter
the Northwest Christmas Tree market. However, as a result
of early mass plantings, Crown had an enormous amount of trees
that were going to become marketable all at once.
Crown had hired Paul Goodmonson, a recently retired partner
of Holiday Tree Farms in Corvallis, Oregon as a consultant.
Due to the fact that Crown had not developed a market for
the trees, they were advised to sell the entire farm. At that
time, their farm consisted of 1,117 acres with over one million
noble firs coming to market over the next two-year period.
When my husband, Bob Stohr, and I got the call about the pending
sale, we were definitely interested. However, we knew that
our company, Douglas Fir Christmas Tree Company, and we could not
handle such a large purchase alone. But Bob didn’t give
up and he decided to put together a group of potential buyers.
He turned to three skilled Christmas Tree men to join him
in the purchase.
His first agenda was to convince Paul Goodmonson that he was
too young to retire and still very much needed in the industry.
Paul had previously served as the President of the Pacific
Northwest Christmas Tree Association, as had Bob. Paul later
served as the President of the National Christmas Tree Association.
Bob also served as a trustee for the National from the Pacific
Northwest.
Second, Bob asked Gary Bishop from Ken Del Ranch in Northern
California to join the group. Bob had dealt with Gary and
his father, Ken Bishop, for some time in Los Angeles. Ken
Del had wholesaled large numbers of trees in the LA area for
many years.
Third, Bob invited Fred Peste, at that time his partner in
Douglas Fir Christmas Tree Company in Shelton, Washington,
to participate in the venture. Many Northwest growers will
remember Fred as a pioneer in the industry and subsequently
a recipient of the Herb Plum Award.
Negotiations Held "Between the Boxes"
Negotiations with Crown Zellerbach began. It was an exciting
time for all of us. Bob and I had just purchased on old house
on American Lake, just out of Tacoma Washington. It was in
need of much work.
Even in the midst of all the remodeling, it seemed as if our
meetings with our potential partners and Crown representatives
always ended up at our house. We were pretty much living out
of boxes at the time. Consequently, on the day of the signing,
the Crown executives and the four new owners toasted champagne
to each other in plastic slurpy cups! We joked about that
for many years.
So, it was four families, all experienced tree people that
became the new owners. A fifth partner, LA investor, came
in later. The year was 1976 when Crown Zellerbach’s
farm became the new Noble Mountain Tree Farm.
Bob had great concern about the large number of trees coming
to market from the Crown farm and their potential impact on
the industry. Fortunately, Douglas Fir Christmas Tree Company
was selling much more than it was producing and that was helpful
in moving many of the newly available noble fir trees.
Bob was determined that the trees were to be spread over a
wide geographic area to avoid flooding the traditional Northwest
markets. Together, Bob and Gary Bishop spent a great deal
of time searching and charting new avenues of sales across
the United States.
They targeted the East Coast. This proved to be a real challenge
because, while Northwesterners believed noble to be our most
desirable species, it was unheard of back east. It took real
salesmanship, but Noble Mountain became the first Northwest
company to develop a market for this species in such far away
markets.
Incidentally, they were successful enough in their sales efforts
that the western markets were not “flooded” with
noble fir trees.
Three main employees who were previously at Crown Zellerbach
have remained to become a very important part of the Noble
Mountain Tree Farm staff today:
Gary Elder, farm foreman, Greg Johnson, shop foreman, and
Bob Schaefer have become key members of the organization.
Bob was selected to become the general manager. We are grateful
to have retained these original staff members for so many
years.