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Morning News

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Hunter Discusses Quest for Perfect Specimen

Aired November 10, 2000 - 11:52 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: This year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is an 80-foot Norway spruce from Buchanan, New York. It's a 50-year-old tree and it will help put New York City in a holiday mood when it is lit up on November 29.

And joining us now from New York is the man who's responsible for finding just the right tree for Rockefeller Center. He is David Murbach, our guest this morning.

Good to see you. Good morning.

DAVID MURBACH, ROCKEFELLER CENTER: Good morning.

KAGAN: So you're the tree guy.

MURBACH: That's right. We were just working on the tree today.

KAGAN: What is the process of finding just the right tree for Rockefeller Center?

MURBACH: Well, we go by helicopter looking all across the United States, but mostly in the Northeast where the Norway spruce is planted ornamentally.

KAGAN: And so you find it, you spot it from the air. And if it's in someone's back yard, you just go and knock on their door and say, can we have your tree?

MURBACH: That's exactly how I do it. We find about four or five trees by air that have the potential, and then we drive by car and knock on the door and hope that they will give the tree, because it must be a gift from them to Rockefeller Center, which is enhanced and given to the world.

KAGAN: So there's no money that changes hands? Someone just gives you their big tree from their back yard?

MURBACH: It's a wonderful gift. It's part of the holiday spirit.

KAGAN: And so when you pick the tree, when you find the tree, is it kind of like finding just the right girl, the right guy: you just know when you see it? MURBACH: That's exactly the way it is. When the tree is in my vision, I just feel, after a year of looking, that I'm finally -- I'm happy with this. This tree is perfection. It's the best one we've ever had, 80-feet...

KAGAN: Really?

MURBACH: Eighty-feet high and 43 feet wide.

KAGAN: And what was it about it when you saw this one that you just said, this is it?

MURBACH: Well, there's a loftiness to the way the tree holds its branches, the density, the dark green color, and then we had a wonderful family that really exemplifies the holiday spirit of friendship and caring about their relatives.

KAGAN: And so when you knocked on these door, they said, sure? that we would be honored to donate this tree to New York City?

MURBACH: They did indeed. And I think they're down here today watching the tree get lifted into place, and they're just as happy.

KAGAN: Any tinge of sadness when you're looking at this beautiful work of nature, the fact that it's being cut down and that it's going to mean, eventually, the end of its life?

MURBACH: I think -- no, when you think of a tree getting to please 400,000 people in person every day and about 27 million people on camera every day through the different television programs, that's a life for a tree that few trees get to realize.

KAGAN: And what happens to the trees that graces Rockefeller Center after the holidays are over?

MURBACH: It has a wonderful afterlife. We cut up the trunk, we use it as the horse jumps for the U.S. equestrian team, and the branches become mulch for the Boy Scout camp in New Jersey. So there's a recycling that happens with the tree. And we also plant a new tree in it's place on the site where it was cut.

KAGAN: Beautiful.

MURBACH: Sure.

KAGAN: Well, David Murbach, let me be the first to the say happy holidays.

MURBACH: Thank you.

KAGAN: Haven't had a chance to say that this year yet.

MURBACH: Bye-bye.

KAGAN: Thanks for joining us and sharing the story of the tree at Rockefeller Center. Really appreciate it. MURBACH: Bye-bye.

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