Stephen McDaniel
Christmas tree grower and former West Virginia DNR director, based in St. Augustine, Florida.
About Stephen McDaniel
Stephen McDaniel sells Christmas trees to families and wholesale buyers across West Virginia, and lives in St. Augustine, Florida. He directed the state Division of Natural Resources from 2017 to 2022 and co-owns Readybox of WV, a portable storage company.
His tree farm — Mozark Mountain Tree Farm in Tucker County — opens the Friday after Thanksgiving and runs until the trees are gone. His children come up each November to plant and harvest. For the rest of the year he divides his time between Florida and the mountain, along with a black Lab named Seneca.
Recent Posts
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Stephen McDaniel St Augustine | The $17 Million Question Nobody Wanted to Ask
West Virginia ran a 45-park system for years without charging a soul to drive in. Only nine states in the country operated that way. The bill came due anyway, in the form of lodges pushing 50 years old and a maintenance list nobody had budgeted for. Stephen McDaniel of St. Augustine, Florida inherited that list…
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Stephen McDaniel St Augustine | What One Day of the Week Was Worth to West Virginia
For most of its history West Virginia told hunters they could not hunt on Sunday. Then it told them they could, but only on private land, and only in counties that voted for it. The patchwork made a certain kind of sense to nobody. Stephen McDaniel of St. Augustine, Florida spent his first year as…
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Stephen McDaniel St Augustine | The Hunting Land You Cannot Actually Reach
There is a ridge in Logan County, West Virginia, about 11 miles into the Tomblin Wildlife Management Area. The hunting up there is good. Getting up there is the problem. Stephen McDaniel of St. Augustine, Florida raised that problem publicly in August 2018, while serving as Director of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.…