On Friday, Nov. 1, the U.S. Forest service cut an 88-foot Engelmann Spruce from the Colville National Forest, near Usk, Wash., to serve as this year's U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. A few hundred people attended to see the beginning of a journey the tree, which is the first from Eastern Washington, will take through 11 states before being lit in Washington D.C. on Dec. 4.
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U.S. Forest Service employees Alex Jess, center, and Michael Rude hand Jim Beckwith a saw.
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Smokey the Bear, left, hangs out with (left to right) U.S. Forest Service employee Gayne Sears, Chelsea Earls, her 8-year-old daughter Olivia and 5-year-old son Oliver.
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Four-year-old Maggie McClure, left, and her brother Connor, 7, eat cookies and drink hot chocolate, as their mother Erin watches.
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Sonia Wirth, left, holding her 20-month-old daughter Sadie, and Stephanie Wirth wait for the tree to be cut.
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U.S. Forest Service employee Ben Curtis, center, reviews some procedures before the tree is cut.
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Kalispel Tribe Cultural Program Director Francis Cullooyah speaks before the tree destined to be the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.
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Members of the media and the general public watch an 88-foot Engelmann Spruce, destined to be the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, as it's cut.
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Debbie Lutz, left, and her husband Bob photograph and film during the cutting of an 88-foot Engelmann Spruce, destined to be the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.
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U.S. Forest Service employee Cally Davidson, left, and Pend Oreille County Public Works employee Bernie Nelson place a bag on the base of the tree.
