Are we losing our passion for real Christmas trees?

St. Louis Dispatch reports:

In 1990, about 35 million live Christmas trees were sold. That figure dropped to a low of 22 million trees in 2002, according to surveys by the National Christmas Tree Association, a Chesterfield-based trade group.

The industry has a voluntary marketing program, which it says helped push sales higher; sales this year are expected to be around 30 million live trees.