With the just-cut 2003 Capitol HolidayTree upended and uspended in the background, FS landscape architect Terry Fletcher (far right) gives instructions to his ‘binding crew’ on what happens next. It took almost two days to bind the tree with parachute cord and nylon strapping, before it was ultimately shrink-wrapped in plastic for its trek to Washington, DC. --Photo by Linda Steinhaus

“It’s a gorgeous tree--very full and dense,” noted Terry Fletcher, the Forest Service’s landscape architect on Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest, who oversaw the tree’s selection, cutting, and transportation.

This year’s tree, which came from the Boiling Springs area north of Crouch, Idaho on the Boise National Forest, is a 73-year-old, 11,000-pound, 61-foot Engelmann spruce, said Scott Godfrey, FS timber management assistant on the Emmett Ranger District.

“With our mountain roads in Idaho, it was a little tricky getting this tree out of the woods,” recounted Fletcher. “The crane traveling behind the trailer, which was transporting the tree horizontally, had to pick up the trailer at three different spots along the road--just to safely get around the corners.”

Three National Forests in southwest Idaho--the Boise, Payette, and Sawtooth--joined forces to provide this year’s tree. After the tree was cut and shrink-wrapped in plastic, a team of over 20 Forest Service employees and community leaders traveled to celebrations in 53 Idaho communities before heading east.

In Sun Valley, Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne led the town’s parade on his motorcycle with the local Harley Owners Group.

Dave Olson, an FS public affairs officer for the Boise NF plus for this year’s Capitol Holiday Tree project, added that the Capitol Holiday Tree is provided each year by one of the nation’s 155 national forests.

“From one Capitol dome to another Capitol dome,” observes Rick Kline, a Forest Service law enforcement officer on the Boise National Forest, as he inspects the 2003 Capitol Holiday Tree trailer at its first community stop in Boise, Idaho--in the shadow of that state’s Capitol dome. The shrink-wrap protecting the tree is decorated with logos of many of the sponsors of this year’s Capitol Holiday Tree. The tree, a 61-foot Engelmann spruce, came from the Boise National Forest. It’s the 40th Capitol Holiday Tree to grace the lawn of the U.S. Capitol--its final stop. --Photo by Linda Steinhaus

This is the 40^th Capitol Holiday Tree, according to Beverly Carroll, an FS program analyst and national coordinator for the Capitol Holiday Tree. “Of those,” she pointed out, “34 have been donated to Congress by the Forest Service, with the support of state and local communities, for use as the Capitol Tree.”

According to Dean Martens, an FS soil scientist on the Payette NF who served as the travel team leader, the Capitol Holiday Tree arrived in Washington, DC on December 1. Boise NF administrative assistant Charlie LaRose, who coordinated the project’s volunteer efforts, added that much of the tree’s journey and related activities were funded through sponsors and donations.

Renee Bidiman, an FS information assistant on the Payette NF, also noted that this year’s tree is decorated with over 4,000 ornaments made by students throughout the state of Idaho. “Two lucky students, along with their parents, won trips to Washington, DC to participate in the tree lighting,” she added.

Accompanying the Capitol Holiday Tree on its trek east were three fir trees from the Idaho-based, family-owned tree farm of Larry Cooke, an environmental specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Washington State Office in Spokane. According to Betty Schmitt, NRCS public affairs officer in the Spokane office, Cooke’s grand fir trees--all at least ten feet tall and all at least 14 years old--have since been decorated and are gracing the offices of Secretary Ann M. Veneman, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Mark Rey, and NRCS Chief Bruce Knight, respectively.

Danny Ebert, an FS regional partnership coordinator, pointed out that the Capitol Holiday Tree--also called the “People’s Tree”--is not to be confused with the National Christmas Tree, which grows on the Ellipse behind the White House.

The 2003 Capitol Holiday Tree, which was formally lit on December 11, will be lit each evening throughout the December holiday season. •

Here’s How We’re Promoting Ag Stats In The Classroom

That tradition, carried on today by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, is being taught to America’s rural, suburban, and urban youth through NASS’s “Agriculture Counts” lesson plans, available on the agency’s website.

According to Janet Allen, head of NASS’s Marketing Section, NASS staffers worked with Oklahoma State University curriculum writers to develop lesson plans under the title of “Agriculture Counts Lesson Plans,” and put them on the NASS web site. “We’re using many of our NASS agricultural surveys and the last census of agriculture as the foundation for our lesson plans,” she explained. “That’s what makes our effort unique from educational outreach initiatives, to students, by other agencies at USDA.”

The lessons are structured for grades Kindergarten through 12 and incorporate agriculture and agricultural statistics into English, math, geography, and social studies.

To view and print NASS’s lesson plans, go to the NASS web site at http://www.usda.gov/nass and click on “NASS Kids,” then click on “Ag for Teachers,” and finally click on “Agriculture Counts Lesson Plans.” Lessons are available in PDF format by school grade and subject series.

NASS survey statistician Debbie Norton noted that when the mission of conducting the census of agriculture every five years moved from the U.S. Bureau of the Census to NASS in 1997, the lesson plans came with it.

“The Census Bureau had already developed similar lesson plans for students, K through 12,” she said. “But we worked with Pat Thompson with the ‘Ag in the Classroom’ program at Oklahoma State University, made the lesson plans more current, and shared the importance of ag statistics. Plus, we gathered teacher feedback to improve our lesson plans. And, for the first time, we put them on CDs.”

In addition, they began using not only statistics from the census of agriculture but also statistics that NASS compiles on a regular basis on such subjects as crop yields, livestock sales, and different types of demographic data on farm and ranch operators.

NASS customer service representative Barbara Tidwell noted that, for instance, the overall lesson plan for grades 7-8 is called “This Land Is Our Land,” while a lesson plan for grades 9-12 is called “Math--Making Sense of the Census.”

“We’re trying to teach kids why it’s important to have agricultural statistics, and also teach suburban and urban kids that their food and clothing originates with farmers and ranchers, not the grocery or clothing store,” explained NASS customer service representative Sharon Powers. “So, at NASS, we’re using ag stats to spread the word to students on the basics about agriculture.”

For instance, a lesson plan for fourth graders asks them to list their favorite snack and then list what agricultural commodities were used in making that snack. “But then,” explained NASS customer service coordinator Pat Joyce, “they are asked to review NASS statistics--which are provided as part of the lesson--and determine in what states those agricultural commodities were produced, and if they are produced in their home state.” A lesson plan for high school students reinforces the concepts of ‘mean’ and ‘median’ to track crop yields in their home state and county--based on NASS statistics--and then poses the question of whether adding a processing plant might affect those statistics and add value to that crop.

NASS media specialist Karen Cannon noted that the agricultural census statistics currently in use in the lesson plans are based on the most recently completed census of agriculture, which is dated 1997. “But we plan to have our 2002 Census of Agriculture final data completed and tabulated sometime in the spring of 2004,” she emphasized.

“So we’ll be incorporating more current agricultural statistics into those lesson plans--to provide an even more current and relevant ag-based learning experience for students around the country.” •