BY CHRIS LAWRENCE
Wednesday’s snowfall in the high mountains of West Virginia created the perfect backdrop for the felling of the 2023 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.
A small group of about 75 people, mostly workers with the U.S. Forest Service and media members, braved 19-degree temperatures and crowded into the Laurel Fork Campground on the Monongahela National Forest to witness the harvest of a 63-foot Norway Spruce, which is now destined for Washington, D.C.
“All-in-all we estimate our staff looked at probably over 100 trees. We narrowed it down to the best eight candidates that had the characteristics we were looking for. Those eight trees are what we showed to the architect of the U.S. Capitol for options,” said Amy Albright, project manager for the Capitol Christmas Tree Project.
Location played a big part in it as well, according to Forest Supervisor Shawn Cochran.
The 63-foot Norway Spruce from the Monongahela National Forest was selected from close to 100 trees suggested for the honor.
“It has that nice typical pyramid shape that everybody can recognize. It’s a very well-formed tree, but access plays a big role, getting those cranes in here and getting close to the tree is a major factor,” said Cochran.
The two cranes held the big spruce in position as two men known for their role in the West Virginia forest industry brought down the tree in the old school manner. Ron Polgar, a 46-year veteran of the Monongahela Forest Service staff, and Arden Cogar Jr., who is well-known for his many years of competing in Timbersports, were selected to harvest the tree.
Cogar said cutting the tree with a cross-cut saw, a felling ax and wedges was a celebration of the hard work of many generations of West Virginia loggers.
“The Appalachian Mountains, West Virginia itself, is deep seated in the mining and timbering industry. That’s what put food on my family’s table for over six generations. We wanted to celebrate the hard work ethic that makes us Mountaineer proud,” said Cogar.
Polgar is a traditionalist. He teaches the skills of using the cross-cut saw and sharping the cross-cut blades as part of his work with the U.S. Forest Service. He was proud to be there.
“It’s quite an honor to provide the Christmas tree from our humble national forest to Washington, D.C.,” he said.
As the saw sliced through the last of the trunk and it was lifted from the stump, the crowd cheered.
“I think it’s an incredible sense of pride. It’s a beautiful tree,” said Meadow Arbogast from Randolph County who is an employee of the Forest Service. “It’s really a special way to show how awesome West Virginians are.”
The tree will now take a trip on a flatbed truck around the state of West Virginia so the state’s population can see the history-making artifact before it’s finally erected on Capitol Hill for the holiday season. Along with the tree, West Virginians are sending along 14,000 homemade ornaments to adorn the tree. They were created by a number of school groups and other West Virginians as part of the Christmas Tree project.
The tree will be dedicated Nov. 28 on Capitol Hill.
GREG WHITE contributed to this story
