USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station
CALIFORNIA – ALBANY-ARCATA-DAVIS-FRESNO-PLACERVILLE-REDDING-RIVERSIDE – HAWAII-HILO
SCIENCE THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
www.fs.fed.us/psw/
For Immediate Release: Nov. 29, 2011
Contact: Sherri Eng, PSW Research Station Public Affairs, sleng@fs.fed.us; (510) 559-6327
U.S. Forest Service Arboretum Provides California State Capitol Christmas Tree
PLACERVILLE, Calif. —Past and present employees from the USDA Forest Service’s Institute of Forest
Genetics will reminisce about the tiny seedling they watched grow into a 60-foot tree when Gov. Edmund
G. Brown Jr. lights the 80th Annual California State Capitol Christmas Tree on Dec. 7 in front of the State
Capitol in Sacramento. Part of the Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) and located in Placerville,
the Institute has donated a white fir to the state for the past 13 years.
Since 1998, state employees have collected Christmas trees from a stand of about 3,000 trees that Forest
Service employees planted in the mid-1960s at the Institute’s four-acre Camino Arboretum . The
arboretum was one of four sites Forest Service scientists established in 1965 to study the hardiness of
trees grown from white fir seeds collected from as far away as Michigan. The research included studying
the effectiveness of planting trees in different arrangements to increase productivity. About 2,000 trees
remain.
“The purpose of this 1965 white fir plantation was to gain important information about the
physiographic and elevational effects on the growth and survival of white fir trees,” says Roger
Stutts, a retired Forest Service employee who worked for the Institute for more than 40 years and helped
plant some of the original seedlings. “Who could have known that these beautiful, mature trees
would someday provide a testament to nature’s beauty when chosen for the California State
Capitol Christmas Tree.”
State employees started eyeing the arboretum as a Christmas tree source over a decade ago due to its close
proximity to Sacramento and its accessibility. A large crane is necessary to handle the tree during cutting.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CALFIRE) transported this year’s tree to the
State Capitol on Nov. 15. The tree will be decorated with 900 hand-crafted ornaments created by children
and adults with developmental disabilities who receive services and support from the state’s development
centers and 21 nonprofit regional centers. It will be illuminated by 10,000 ultra-low wattage LED lights.
The Institute of Forest Genetics was originally founded in 1925 by James G. Eddy, a Northwest
lumberman who financed the world’s first institute dedicated to forest genetics. PSW has operated the
Institute since 1935. It serves as the premier location for USDA Forest Service research in the areas of
forest genetics and biology. The Institute was listed on the National Register of Historic places in 1987.
Headquartered in Albany, Calif., the Pacific Southwest Research Station develops and communicates
science needed to sustain forest ecosystems and other benefits to society. It has laboratories and research
centers in California, Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands. For more information, visit
www.fs.fed.us/psw/.
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