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November/December 2019
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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
DAVEY CONTINUES NATIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE TRADITION
For 41 years, Davey has laid claim to being the sole provider
of the U.S. National Christmas Tree. Davey crews renewed
that claim in late October, when they transplanted the new
national tree from Pennsylvania to the Ellipse in President's
Park South – within sight of the White House and
Washington Monument.
It took a terrific Davey effort to restore this national symbol
of the holiday season after a severe windstorm damaged
the previous tree.
The tremendous effort started with The Care of Trees
Alexandria Residential/Commercial (R/C) office removing
the old tree. Then the Alexandria/Washington, D.C.,
Commercial Landscape Services (CLS) territory removed
the stump, prepped the pit for the tree and the planting
area for heavy equipment.
Next, Environmental Design, Inc., a Davey affiliate, spent
five days carefully coaxing the new tree, a 31-foot tall
Colorado blue spruce, from its spot in the front yard of a
Pennsylvania couple's home and then trucked it the 4.5-hour
drive to the nation's Capital. The Baltimore CLS territory
repaired the lawn and landscape after the tree's removal.
Robert Craft, government business development manager,
CLS, said the Alexandria R/C and CLS operations, along
with Environmental Design, then settled the 21-ton tree
into its new, permanent home.
"This was one of the smoothest operations I've been a part
of, and I've been moving trees for a while," Craft said. "Back
when I started in the 1980s and 1990s, we moved a lot of
trees. I can say that those experiences helped me in the
coordination of this project, but I tell you it went extremely
smooth. I had some sleepless nights, but everybody
stepped up, did their job, and it was flawless, really."
The park where the tree stands is managed by the National
Park Service. Davey has signed a one-year contract with NPS
to care for the new tree to ensure it thrives in its new location.
The care includes monthly inspections, fertilization treatments,
pest management, watering and mulching, Craft said.
"It's your basic maintenance of the tree for a one-year
period," he said.
Below: The new U.S. National Christmas Tree is installed in
Washington, D.C. The tree and root ball weighed 42,000 pounds,
or about 21 tons.
Right: The tree is removed and prepared for the trip to the Capital.
41 Years of Davey Holiday Trees
Davey has transplanted the U.S. National
Christmas Tree dating back to 1978. That first
Davey-transplanted tree thrived until 2011
and was replaced due to natural causes. A
new tree was found by Davey and installed
in 2011 but was damaged in a windstorm
in 2017. NPS decided it was again time to
replace the tree and, once again, enlisted
Davey's help in 2019.
RESOLVE
