Olaus Murie Christmas Tree

 "Olaus Tree"

In celebration of Christmas and the winter solstice is an ancient tradition of decorating homes with plants and trees that remain green throughout the winter.

Margaret and Olaus Murie

photo: The Murie Center

Wishing to participate in the holiday tradition without killing a live tree, renowned biologist and wilderness advocate Olaus Murie had an ingenious idea.

 Christmas Tree Stand

The first step is constructing a tree trunk and stand from an already dead tree and a couple scrap pieces of milled lumber. The resulting tree stand can be reused for many years.

 Collecting Evergreen Boughs

The next step involves collecting boughs from live evergreens. To minimize our impact we harvest the branches from a variety of large trees.

 Madshus Glittertind Skis

This provides a wonderful excuse to take out our Madshus Classic Skis for a tour through our local National Forest.

 Constructing an Olaus Tree

The boughs are then trimmed and fitted in pre-placed holes in the stand. Using a drill, the holes are tapered from large at the bottom to small at the top.

Multi-Species Christmas Tree

This year's Olaus Tree is multi-species and includes boughs from Douglas-fir, Engelmann spruce, and Lodgepole pine. By placing branches on only one side of our stand, our tree fits snugly against a wall. For decoration, we placed an abandoned bird nest at the tree's apex.

Amy McCarthy

“One cannot describe a Christmas Eve about a fireplace. There is so much feeling in it. There were ten of us, happy to be together. Beside the fireplace is the lighted tree—as usual, handmade by me from limbs from various large trees here in the woods. Ade and I never cut a living tree. I had carried the basis for this year’s tree down from Taggart Lake, one that the trail crew had cut and thrown aside.”

- Olaus Murie in Wapiti Wilderness