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PEAKS & VALLEYS
N.E. wreaths decking halls in sunny L.A.
(By B.J. Roche, Globe Staff)
Most markets are now global, but most bugs are still local, and agriculture officials are trying to keep it that way. This is a problem for those who make their living from New England's forests. The feds called for a quarantine beginning Jan. 1 on pine products from parts of northern New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine after they found a tree-damaging beetle. And until recently, the teeny balsam gall midge was eating a big hole in Maine's $15 million-a-year mail-order wreath business. A half-million wreaths, most made by small businesses, are sold annually through outlets like QVC and L.L. Bean, and about 20 percent went to California, where Maine balsam wreaths are highly coveted, says Maine state horticulturist Ann Gibbs. But thousands of wreaths were turned back in previous years by California agriculture inspectors worried about importing the pest into the state. What's bad news in the Golden State is good news in Vacationland: California officials realized they have more of their own bugs than they thought, so this year, they are freely decking L.A. doorways with Maine evergreens.


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