Category: Vermont

On November 24, this year’s Vermont Capitol Christmas Tree, which will illuminate the statehouse in Montpelier for the holiday season, will be cut down from Cadwallader Tree Farm in Wallingford, VT, owned by Len and Mary Ann Cadwallader.

The Cadwalladers have owned the land from which the tree comes from for 80 years, and Len’s grandparents first got the farm involved in Vermont Tree Farm. While not specifically a Christmas tree farm, the farm had several large balsam firs among other varieties. Mr. Cadwallader described the balsam tree as “stately and full” standing at over 60 ft tall. He knew
the capitol was looking for a tree, and felt he had one that could be the Capitol Tree. So, he alerted his local forester who notified the statehouse, and he was given approval to donate the tree to the Capitol.

The event at Cadwallader Farm on November 24 will include the cutting of another balsam tree, which will go to Dartmouth College to be erected on the Hanover Green.

Mr. Cadwallader is grateful for the opportunity saying, “I am pleased to donate the trees and brighten the holiday season, particularly this year with the pandemic.”

If you have not heard about the Woods, Wildlife and Warblers program yet, please visit the website to learn more and tell your southern Vermont woodland owner friends and neighbors. The Woods, Wildlife and Warblers is a partnership among Audubon Vermont, the Vermont Tree Farm Committee, Vermont Woodlands Association, and the American Forest Foundation. We couldn’t accomplish our work without the help of the rest of our partners, including Vermont Coverts, Vermont’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, and Vermont’s Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.

Our focus is on providing landowners in Vermont with the knowledge, tools, and resources that will allow them to better care for their woods and the critters that call them home.We offer free, no obligation services to landowners, such as informational materials and site visits from a woodland expert. The expert will walk your land with you and discuss goals you may have for your land such as:

• Enhancing wildlife habitat on your property;
• Increasing the variety of wildlife species visiting your woods;
• Identifying and controlling invasive plants and insects;
• Monitoring how your woods are changing; and
• Maintaining your woods into the future.

Learn more on our website and sign up for your free visit from a woodland expert.

The Vermont Tree Farm program is pleased to announce that Consulting Forester Paul Harwood has been named as the Northeast Regional Tree Farm forester for 2015. Harwood was nominated (surreptitiously) by the Tree Farm committee for his exemplary service to Tree Farmers and the Tree Farm program.