Colorado to provide next year’s Capitol Christmas tree

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) - Next year’s U.S. Capitol Christmas tree will come from western Colorado.

U.S. Forest Service officials said Monday a tree will be cut from Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre or Gunnison national forest to adorn the Capitol building’s West Lawn in 2020.

Spokeswoman Kim Phillips told The Daily Sentinel that a formal announcement will be made Friday, and she declined to provide further details.

Each year, a national forest is chosen to provide a tree for the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

This year’s tree is a 60-foot (18-meter) blue spruce cut from the Carson National Forest outside of Taos, New Mexico.

The Capitol tree last came from western Colorado in 2012, a 73-foot (22-meter) Engelmann spruce from the White River National Forest east of Meeker.