A home-grown piece of the Kenai Peninsula will be shown-off as Alaska’s first U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree after the seven story spruce begins its long cross-country journey Wednesday.
“Since 1970, the People’s Tree which graces the lawn of our U.S. Capitol, has come from one of our national forests. This year that forest is the Chugach. The tree represents the Chugach National Forest, the State of Alaska, and all residents of Alaska.”
A ceremony was held in front of the 74-foot Lutz spruce just outside of Seward Tuesday morning before the behemoth was fell by Certified Forest Service employee Dan Osborn.
The search for the tree in the Chugach National Forest began in October 2014 when Natural Resource Specialist Amanda Villwock with the National Forest Service was tasked with choosing the tree.
Villwock: “I spent about three weeks scouring the roads system, looking for a beautiful, 70-foot tall Christmas tree, so live branches all the way to the ground and a full canopy all the way around.”
Mona Spargo, Project Coordinator for the Capitol Christmas Tree says the spruce’s tour of Alaska and Lower 48 on the way to D.C. will begin with a visit to Seward tonight and then to Moose Pass on Wednesday.
- Moose Pass (Oct. 30 from 10 –11 a.m. at Trail Lake Lodge)
- Anchorage, (Oct. 30 from 5 – 8 p.m. at Cabela’s)
- Anchorage (Oct. 31 from noon – 4 p.m. at Trick or Treat Street)
This will be the farthest a U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree has ever traveled, around 6,000 miles, stopping at nine places along the way:
- Seattle, Washington
- Missoula, Montana
- Rapid City, South Dakota
- Sheridan, Wyoming
- La Vista, Iowa
- South Bend, Indiana
- Findlay, Ohio
- Chillicothe, Ohio
- Joint Base Andrews, Maryland
Track its progress by clicking here.
Once in Maryland, the tree will be unwrapped by airmen at Andrews Air Force Base and then be transferred to the Architect of the Capitol’s Office.
The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony will take place December 2.
