Capitol Holiday Tree

10 November 2004

Virginia Cooperative Extension, Charlottesville/Albemarle County Office
460 Stagecoach Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902
phone: 434.872.4580   fax: 434.872.4578

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The Commonwealth of Virginia has been given the honor to provide the 2004 National Holiday Tree with participation from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. The 2004 tree will be the first National Holiday Tree from Virginia.

This gift to the nation is from our entire State. In July the U.S. Capitol Landscape Architect selected a beautiful 70-foot red spruce located in Highland County on the Warm Springs Ranger District of the George Washington National Forest. The tree was cut on November 2nd. Highland County hosted a Send-Off Ceremony on November 13 at the Highland County Fairground in Monterey.

In December, as America watches, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives will throw the switch, lighting the magnificent holiday tree on the front lawn of our nations capitol.

In addition to the Big Tree placed on the west lawn of the Capitol, approximately 70 Companion Trees are also provided as part of the Capitol Holiday Tree effort. Two of these trees are quite large, about 25 feet in height, and are placed in prominent positions at the Supreme Court and the US Department of Agriculture Patio. The remaining Companion Trees range from the 8 to 15 feet and will be delivered to the offices of the Senators and Representatives of the Commonwealth, Congressional Dining Rooms, the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior, and Agency and Bureau Chiefs throughout Agriculture and Interior. These trees have been donated by Christmas tree growers across Virginia providing an excellent opportunity to promote Virginias Christmas tree growers and their industry.

The regular practice of displaying a holiday tree on the Capitol grounds is relatively recent. Correspondence of 1919 in the records of the Architect of the Capitol indicates that a holiday tree was purchased that year. However, it was not until 1964 that a definite procedure was initiated and a tree-lighting ceremony established.

In 1963, House Speaker John W. McCormack suggested to J. George Stewart, Architect of the Capitol, that a holiday tree be placed on the Capitol grounds. A live 24-foot Douglas fir was purchased for $700 from Buddies Nurseries of Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, and was planted on the West Front lawn. Each year through 1967 this tree was decorated and a tree-lighting ceremony was held. Unfortunately, a combination of factors, including a severe wind storm in the spring of 1967 and root damage, caused the tree to die in 1968; it was removed in the same year. The 1968 Christmas tree was made from two white pines from Finxburg, Maryland, and was 30 feet tall; the 1969 tree was a 40-foot white pine from Westminster, Maryland.

The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service has provided the trees since 1970. Information about individual trees is listed below.

Year	Tree	Height	Source
1970	Norway Spruce	40 feet	Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia
1971	Black Spruce	45 feet	White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire
1972	Balsam Fir	50 feet	Tennessee National Forest, Pennsylvania
1973	White Spruce	51 feet	Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania
1974	Fraser Fir	41 feet	Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina
1975	Balsam Fir	41 feet	Ottawa National Forest, Michigan
1976	Red Spruce	41 feet	Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia
1977	White Spruce	52 feet	Nemadji State Forest, Minnesota
1978	Norway Spruce	60 feet	Savage River State Forest, Maryland
1979	White Spruce	52 feet	Nicolet National Forest, Wisconsin
1980	White Spruce	48 feet	Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont
1981	White Spruce	50 feet	Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan
1982	Balsam Fir	50 feet	Riley Bostwich Wildlife Management Area, Vermont
1983	White Spruce	52 feet	Chequamegon National Forest, Wisconsin
1984	White Spruce	58 feet	Superior National Forest, Minnesota
1985	White Spruce	56 feet	Ottawa National Forest, Michigan
1986	Shasta Red Fir	54 feet	Klamath National Forest, California
1987	Norway Spruce	60 feet	Wayne-Hoosier National Forest, Ohio
1988	Balsam Fir	50 feet	Manistee National Forest, Michigan
1989	Engelmann Spruce	60 feet	Kootenai National Forest, Montana
1990	Engelmann Spruce	65 feet	Routt National Forest, Colorado
1991	Blue Spruce (live)	60 feet	Carson National Forest, New Mexico
1992	White Spruce	62 feet	Chippewa National Forest, Minnesota
1993	White Fir	65 feet	San Bernardino National Forest, California
1994	Balsam Fir	58 feet	Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont
1995	Douglas Fir	60 feet	Plumas National Forest, California
1996	Engelmann Spruce	75 feet	Manti-LaSal National Forest, Utah
1997	Black Hills Spruce	63 feet	Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota
1998	Fraser Fir	50 feet	Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina
1999	White Spruce	60 feet	Nicolet National Forest, Wisconsin
2000	Colorado Blue Spruce	65 feet	Pike National Forest, Colorado
2001	White Spruce	72 feet	Ottawa National Forest, Michigan
2002	Douglas Fir	70 feet	Umpqua National Forest, Oregon
2003	Engelmann Spruce	70 feet	Boise National Forest, Idaho

Source - http://www.aoc.gov/cc/grounds/hol_trees/holiday_trees.htm

Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources is hosting the Capitol Holiday Tree website this year, http://capitolholidaytree2004.org/. Les Fuller, senior research associate, designed and maintains the site in collaboration with Donna Wilson and Jobeth Brown from the U.S. Forest Service in Roanoke, Va.

Pictured here is the 70-foot red spruce that was cut last week in Highland County for the nation's Capitol as it is being airlifted out of the forest. The tree will tour Virginia before going to the Capitol.  The local tree tour schedule and contact people are as follows:

• Culpeper 5:30pm, Sunday, Nov. 14, Paula Stafford - 540-727-0611
• Orange 2pm Friday, Nov. 26, Carolyn Wray - 540-972-7761
• Amherst 11am Saturday, Nov. 27, Jack Hobbs - 434-946-7885

The Lighting Ceremony will start at 5:00 PM on December 9, 2004 on the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C

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For more information about landscape topics contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office. The local Virginia Cooperative Extension office numbers are Albemarle 872-4580, Fluvanna 591-1950, Greene 985-5236, Louisa 540-967-3422, and Nelson 263-4035.