It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas: USO Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Takes Part in Capitol Christmas Tree Decoration

There is something about cities covered in garland and twinkling lights. Many, like Washington D.C., with Christmas Trees framing famous landmarks and historical buildings. One such tree can be found in front of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Since 1964, the centerpiece of Christmas decorations has adorned the west lawn and, since 1970, has been provided by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Each summer, the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is responsible for selecting the perfect tree, a joint task between the Director of Capitol Grounds and Arboretum and the USFS. Over a year long process, the USFS identifies a forest region and a national forest. From there, a tree is selected based on required specifications, then harvested and transported to Washington D.C.

Annette Heckart, Interpretation and Conservation Education Program Manager for the USFS Alaska Region and Chugach National Forest, explained the processed: “The Architect of the Capitol provides a set of criteria for the tree and then local Forest Service staff start looking for potential candidate trees that meet that criterion close to a year out. After several candidate trees are identified, the Architect of the Capitol makes the final selection.”

For just the second time in history, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree is coming from the country’s 49th state. The first one was back in 2015 and was a 74 feet tall Lutz Spruce selected from the Chugach National Forest in the southcentral part of Alaska. This year, a beautiful Sitka Spruce, standing at 80 feet tall, from the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska will grace the building’s west front. (Fun fact, the Tongass is the largest national forest in the United States, covering over 16.8 million acres, and is the largest temperate rainforest in the world.)

Once harvested, the tree traversed from Alaska to the nation’s capital with stops along the way as part of the traditional whistlestop tour. “This tree is making an almost 4,000 mile journey from Wrangell, Alaska, to Washington, DC,” stated Annette. “It is the only U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree that will travel by three separate barges before arriving in Seattle, Washington, where it will begin a coast-to-coast whistlestop tour.”

The tour kicked off in Ketchikan, Alaska before heading to the lower 48 states where it made appearances from Oregon to Maryland. At each stop, those in attendance were able to sign the trailer with markers, purchase souvenirs and learn about the history of the tree.

The tree arrived in the District of Columbia just before the Thanksgiving holiday and in time to be decorated before the ceremonial tree lighting on December 3. The Capitol Christmas Tree is adorned with approximately 5,000 LED lights and over 3,000 ornaments, which are handmade and created by residents of the tree’s home state. Thus, the tree’s nickname of the People’s Tree. “This is a wonderful way to share who we are, as Alaskans, with the rest of the nation,” expressed Annette.

In addition to the ornaments on the Capitol Christmas Tree, there are thousands of others collected for the 48 companion trees put up throughout federal buildings in Washington D.C. As part of outreach, Annette began working with various organizations to create ornaments that represent “The Last Frontier”. Acknowledging the rare opportunity, a volunteer connected the USO Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) staff with Annette and the center began its Christmas crafting from there.

Focusing on the suggested themes, the USO JBER team hosted multiple events in August for service members and their families to come in and decorate an ornament out of natural, recyclable or repurposed materials. To truly represent Alaska, USO JBER Center Operations Specialist Barbara Knaak and her husband set out to acquire handmade materials: “We went out and got some alder logs, birch logs and pine logs, and we sliced and sanded them so that the wood can be painted.”

Along with the wood canvas, patrons could choose from a plastic cup, other plastic shapes, glitter, glue and outdoor paint to showcase Alaskan landscapes. Other materials included little military figurines as well as 3D printed moose and polar bears on sleds. *Whether it was a designated family night, Coffee Connection event or other programming, families came into the center over a course of 10 days to design their representations of Alaska. “We came up with a pretty eclectic group of ornaments,” expressed Barbara. *

Once the People’s Tree is fully decorated, about 200 of its ornaments will have come from military families stationed at JBER. Some of which will even get to see their creations on display in person as they have since moved from JBER to the Washington D.C. area due to military orders.

“We are so thankful and honored to have ornaments made by our service members and families to display on the tree this year,” expressed Annette.

From selecting the tree to the whistlestop tour, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree initiative brings together communities from the tree’s home state and throughout the country in celebration of the season’s spirit and of the great outdoors. With the USO JBER ornaments, our military families are connected with the country’s community this holiday season.