Colorado Conifers Information

Colorado Conifers is a family-owned and operated tree farm and nursery located on the 300-acre Covered Bridge Ranch in Montrose, Colorado. With 50 years of experience in nursery tree growing, Gary Riessen blends his tree growing lifestyle and forestry background with a unique silviculture perspective to nursery production. Graduating with a degree in forestry from Iowa State, Gary joined the Colorado State forestry. In 1969, he joined a tree farm operation in Michigan. A few years later, he purchased his own tree farm and grew it to a 2500 acre tree farm with over 2 million trees planted. This production supported a national Christmas tree distribution of over 200,000 trees and a tree nursery stock distribution of 25,000 annually. Developing a vertically integrated seed to market tree farm operation enabled Gary to keep tight controls on the quality of the tree. Ultimately, Gary became recognized as one of the top tree farmers in the country, known for the highest quality tree and unique growing methods. In 2012, Gary's daughter, Natalie, joined Colorado Conifers. Throughout high school Natalie had worked with her father in the tree nursery and farm production. Now as a CPA with over 20 years working in finance, Natalie has re-joined Gary to manage operations at the tree farm.