Scott Swanson
Local officials last week celebrated the decision to have Sweet Home Ranger District provide this year’s United States Capitol Christmas Tree as a “great opportunity” for the community to promote itself nationally.
U.S. Forest Service officials and local dignitaries announced the development Friday, Jan. 19, in a ceremony on Weddle Bridge at Sankey Park.
“We’re thrilled to have been chosen,” said District Ranger Nikki Swanson, who made the announcement. “I think it would be really fun for the community to get behind the event, to help plan the most amazing community celebration ever around the tree.”
The U.S Forest Service has provided the Capitol Christmas tree since 1970, and the last from Oregon came from the Umpqua National Forest in 2002. Last year’s came from Kootenai National Forest in Montana. Considering that the United States has 154 national forests, Mayor Greg Mahler noted that this will likely be a unique opportunity for Sweet Home.
The year-long process, Swanson said, will include selecting the 65-foot-plus Douglas or noble fir that will adorn the West Lawn at the U.S. Capitol, and 70 smaller trees that will be sent to decorate public spaces and government buildings in Washington D.C. The theme for this year’s tree will be “Find Your Trail.”
Also, Oregonians will need to produce 10,000 hand-made ornaments to adorn the trees. The first of a series of events in which local residents will make them was held Saturday, Jan. 20, at the Sweet Home Boys & Girls Club (see accompanying story).
The theme for this year’s tree will be “Find Your Trail!” in recognition of two anniversaries this year: the 50th anniversary of the National Trails System Act and the 175th commemoration of the Ore-gon Trail.
The year-long event will culminate in November with the cutting of the chosen tree and a parade in Sweet Home, probably on Nov. 10 to start a nationwide “wagon train” tour as the tree is trucked across the nation, following the route of the Oregon Trail, with stops at specific locations along the way in Oregon and other states. A public tree-lighting ceremony will be held in early December on the West Lawn.
Mahler thanked the USFS for selecting Sweet Home to produce the tree and said Sweet Home will sync its local tree-lighting ceremony with the national one.
County Commissioner Will Tucker said it was a “fun” occasion.
“To say I’m excited about being here would be an understatement,” Tucker told a crowd of about 50 news media representatives and local residents clustered on the bridge for the announcement. “This is a great honor, to have a tree out of Linn County, grown here in Oregon out of the Willamette National Forest, out of Sweet Home, Oregon, going all the way to D.C.”
Speakers on Friday also included Dianne Guidry, deputy regional forester for the Willamette National Forest; Juine Chada, a field representative from U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden’s office; Linea Gagliano, director of global communication for Travel Oregon, the state’s tourism commission, which is managing the publicity for the Capitol Christmas Tree; and Bruce Ward, director of Choose Outdoors, a Denver, Colo.-based nonprofit that promotes access and use of public lands.
A big emphasis for all of them was how the tree can promote Ore-gon’s forests and outdoor recreation, as well as its Christmas tree industry.
Guidry noted that national forests in Oregon and Washington last year issued more than 56,000 permits for people to cut their own trees.
“The hope for me is that this tree, as it travels, is to allow us to tell our story,” Tucker said, citing the fact that Christmas trees represent a $90 million industry in the state and are shipped worldwide.
“I’m hoping this will show the nation our potential for trees, that the trees by this example – (the Capitol Christmas) tree and the smaller trees have a place in tomorrow’s world, that we are going to be an active force again in managing and producing wood.”
Guidry said the national forest offers “clean drinking water, timber for homes, habitat for wildlife, world-class recreation and, of course, Christmas trees.”
She and Swanson said the tree experience will give the Ranger District an opportunity to connect with local residents.
“For the U.S. Forest Service, the Capitol Christmas Tree or, as (Swanson) said, the ‘People’s Tree,’ is a wonderful opportunity to highlight the many benefits that the national forest provides to the American people,” Guidry said. “To strengthen our relationships with local communities, form new partnerships and encourage families to connect with and explore the great outdoors.”
“We thought it would be a great project for the city of Sweet Home, something the whole community could unite around,” Swanson said. “We knew Sweet Home is trying to become a recreation destination, a launch-off place for tourism. We want the same thing. We want people to come out, hike our trails, use the forest. It’s their forest.”
She said people will be encouraged to participate in ornament-making events and to look for a tree.
“There will also be opportunities for people to host their own events – church groups, civic groups, school groups, if they want to send us some.”
Swanson said that the right tree will be between 65 and 85 feet in height and must be “perfectly proportioned.”
“It needs to look great from all directions because it’s not like it is in your living room corner and you can hide the bad side against the wall,” she said. “It also needs to be in a place where we can get to it. We have a 75-foot flatbed truck and two cranes that will be necessary.”
Also, she said the tree should be in an area where people can watch when it is cut.
Mahler said he wants Jamboree visitors, as well as local residents, to have a chance to help find the tree, so he talked USFS officials into holding off on the selection of the tree until early August.
Swanson said ranger district personnel have identified some prospects, which remain secret, “but we’re looking for more and asking the public’s help in finding them. It would be pretty cool if a member of the community actually picked the tree. That would be pretty neat.”
The selection of the tree will be made by a capitol architect, who will visit later this year and will select from up to a dozen “candidates,” she said. The location of the tree will remain a secret until immediately before the cutting.
Swanson said that when they heard that Oregon would produce the next Capitol tree, she and other forestry officials went into action.
“We really started lobbying to get it here in Sweet Home,” she said. “We thought it would be a great project for city of Sweet Home, something the whole community could unify around.”
Mahler emphasized that the tree represents “opportunities” for Sweet Home residents on a variety of levels, particularly nationally. He said it fits into the City Council’s emphasis on economic development.
“I’m hoping the nation will see how beautiful Sweet Home is,” he said, adding that he hopes local events in connection with the tree will bring tourists “to eat in our restaurants and shop in our local stores.”
“I would like to see as much engagement on this as possible,” he said. “I’d like to see many people get involved, especially organizations. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I want to capitalize on it. It may never come back again to this area.”