Around the Forest Service: December 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C.—As we reflect on the year's accomplishments, we can be proud knowing we made a difference for people and communities. This year marked 60 years of providing the People's Tree, and Spruce Wayne, a 60-foot Sitka spruce, traveled an enormous distance to land on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol. The Capitol Christmas tree will be lit nightly through Jan. 1, 2025. This year saw…
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You’re invited to the 2024 Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony
Editor's note: This livestream event was recorded Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. Watch the recording below.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—You are cordially invited to virtually join Chief Randy Moore, members of Alaska’s congressional delegation, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and others for the lighting ceremony for the Capitol…
U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, #CapitolChristmasTree, US Capitol Christmas Tree, National Capitol Christmas Tree
Alaska ornaments, art, and…unity
In Alaska, holiday cheer began early this year. Alaskans and Alaska Native peoples spent their long summer days tapping into their inner artist, crafting nearly fifteen thousand beautifully handmade ornaments to adorn the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.These ornaments are more than just impressive, festive decorations.Many of the ornaments honor the state’s rich and historic Indigenous culture, as…
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Finding the people’s tree
Out of thousands of trees, only one gets selected and named the People’s Tree each year.
The Monongahela National Forest, however, has a special history with the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, as it was the first national forest selected to provide the People’s Tree in 1970. Six years later, the Monongahela was asked again to provide the nation’s Bicentennial People’s Tree in 1976.
Forty-seven…
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Christmas in July
WASHINGTON, DC—For most of us, this time of year is the time of cookouts, swim meets, vacations and getting ready for the new school year.
But for Director Jim Kaufmann, Capitol Grounds and Arboretum, and employees on Monongahela National Forest like Amy Albright, project manager, July is the time to think about Christmas. More specifically, it's the time of year to go out and select the tree…
#CapitolChristmasTree, U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree
Introducing Ruby the Red Spruce: 2022 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, also known as the People’s Tree, comes from the mountains of western North Carolina
Aerial view of a high elevation spruce-fir forest on the Pisgah National Forest. A left-over relic of the last ice age, this ecosystem flourished across the landscape but slowly receded to higher elevations as temperatures warmed, taking the species that call it home along for the climb. (USDA Forest Service…