California forest officials are planning for Christmas all year long.The Six Rivers National Forest will provide the “People’s Tree,” this Christmas — that is, the Christmas tree placed on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol each holiday season.Each year, a different national forest is selected by the U.S. Forest Service to provide the tree for the Capitol, as well as additional trees for other congressional offices.#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');And this year, Six Rivers officials will be looking for the fullest, prettiest tree to contribute, according to Samantha Reho, a Forest Service spokesperson.“Our intent is to find the biggest, shiniest, fullest, best, prettiest, tallest, close enough to a road that we can access tree for the U.S. Capitol’s west lawn, and obviously to showcase the Six Rivers and its people,” Reho told the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.Reho said officials will pick one 60- to 80-foot tree for the capitol lawn, and around 130 more for various D.C. office buildings.“And those trees decorations,” Reho said. “We put out a call ... earlier this month requesting 15,000 ornaments by Californians.”The effort to send and decorate the festive trees will require lots of handmade help, including 4,000 outdoor ornaments, 11,000 indoor ornaments and 130 tree skirts.Forest Service officials say the theme of this year’s Capitol Christmas Tree program, “Six Rivers, Many Peoples, One Tree,” represents the diversity and natural history of the region the tree will come from.The program’s logo does the same: It features an image of a six-stripped river, an endangered Lassic Lupine flower and a tall tree with one light for each of the state’s Native tribes.“Obviously drawing attention to the Six Reivers National Forest, ‘Many Peoples’ as we believe in inclusivity and diversity within our forest as well as within the Forest Service, and obviously ‘One Tree:’ that is our mission to bring a beautiful tree to Washington D.C. by Christmas.”Beyond trees and decorations, Reho said the project includes a slate of community events across the state.“But it’s not just providing a tree to Washington D.C., we are going to be going on a five-week, whistle-stop tour throughout the entire state of California and before making our way over to Washington DC with a lot of local events we’re planning that will obviously culminate with Celebration Week in Washington DC,” Reho said.Forest Service officials want that tour to start in Del Norte County.“We want to start our cross-country tour at the very tip of California, up in California — provided that we can the tree, all 120 feet of truck and trailer, though Last Chance Grade, said Nancy Henderson, another Forest Service official planning the program.Henderson said the tour will begin with what she described as a community party, where attendees will have the chance to view the tree and celebrate its selection, as well as sign the banner headed with it to the nation’s capitol.Reho said Forest Service officials are currently searching the forest for “candidate” trees, and an official from the U.S. Capitol will visit the forest in July to select a tree.The winning tree is scheduled to be harvested in October, with a cross-country tour to launch on Oct. 27. The tree is set to be delivered to the capitol Nov. 19 and lit up Dec. 1, according to Reho.More information about the project and making decorations for the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree is available online at www.uscapitolchristmastree.com/. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });