The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree will be harvested by a world champion lumberjack and a Monongahela National Forest employee this year.
Arden Cogar Jr. and Ron Polgar have been chosen to harvest the tree from the national forest in early November.
The tree will tour the state of West Virginia beginning with a kick-off event in Elkins on Nov. 4, stopping in communities along the way before it is delivered to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Cogar is a lifelong West Virginia resident and part of a family known for its association with the West Virginia timber industry for six generations and its dominant presence in lumberjack sports for more than 60 years. Arden has won 55 individual world titles in the sport, four U.S. Stihl Timbersports Series Championships, and numerous state and national championships. He has practiced law in West Virginia for more than 26 years. His father, Arden Cogar, Sr., harvested the 1976 U.S. Capitol Christmas tree from the Gauley Ranger District.
“Monongahela National Forest has been part of my entire life,” said Cogar. “My family has worked the hills of West Virginia in the timber industry for six generations. But beyond that, we have acted as stewards of the forest to create a sustainable economy for the rural communities in the central highlands of West Virginia.”
Polgar works as a biological technician on Monongahela National Forest and is well-known as an expert botanist. He has worked on the forest for 46 years, longer than any other employee. During the Vietnam War, he served aboard the USS Chicago in the Gulf of Tonkin as a radarman and will have 50 years of federal service in March 2024. In addition to his work as a botanist, Polgar has coordinated the forest’s saw program since 1990. He trains both chainsaw and crosscut sawyers.
“A childhood friend from New Jersey brought me to West Virginia, where I have stayed for nearly 50 years, finding the serenity and comfort of the mountains to my liking,” said Polgar. “President Carter’s administration created the Young Adult Conservation Corps, and crew leaders were needed on national forests hosting the program. It was my foot in the door in 1978.”
The two sawyers will use a crosscut saw to harvest the 63-foot Norway spruce that will be displayed on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol this holiday season.
The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree initiative is a 53-year tradition in which one of America’s 154 national forests provides a tree for the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol for the holiday season.
The harvest will be filmed and shared online.
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Crystal Graham
