RED RIVER, N.M. — A 60-foot blue spruce was cut down Wednesday during a ceremony in a forested canyon in northern New Mexico, starting a 2½-week journey that will take it to the U.S. Capitol to be this year's Christmas tree.

A sawyer used a chain saw to sever the trunk, which one of two cranes then jerked several feet up in the air. Then both cranes swung the tree over to a flatbed trailer at the Carson National Forest site.

The tree will tour New Mexico before leaving on a trip scheduled to conclude Nov. 24 at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.

According to the project website, stops are scheduled in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia.

Each year a national forest is selected to share a tree with the nation.