The 30-foot balsam fir serving as Wisconsin's 2024 capitol tree was donated by a Rhinelander family.(Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

Government employees, children in snow pants warding off the frigid early-December temperatures and Smokey the Bear gathered in the pine-smelling rotunda of the Wisconsin Capitol Thursday afternoon to light this year’s state holiday tree. 

This year, the tree commemorates the 125th anniversary of Wisconsin’s state parks, which began with the opening of Interstate State Park on the St. Croix River in northwest Wisconsin in 1900. Hundreds of ornaments handmade by kids from across the state celebrate outdoor recreation in Wisconsin. 

“Wisconsin is a treasure of natural beauty and wonder,” Gov. Tony Evers said before the lighting of the 30-foot balsam fir, donated by a Rhinelander family. 

Smokey the Bear and a seventh grader who spoke about what Wisconsin’s state parks mean to her flipped the switch to light the tree’s 10,000 multi-colored lights. 

Evers says new DNR secretary has been chosen, wants to keep focus on budget

At a news conference shortly after the tree lighting, Evers said that he has selected someone to take over as secretary of the Department of Natural Resources — a position that has been vacant for more than a year after former Secretary Adam Payne resigned last October. 

Evers wouldn’t say who the nominee is, but said it would be a woman. 

The governor also said he wouldn’t weigh in on the primary election in next spring’s campaign for a new Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction and that April’s state Supreme Court race is “a huge, huge election,” but that the Court doesn’t make the law so he wanted to focus on the branch that does so. 

He told reporters that he hasn’t spoken with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos since November’s election. The relationship between Evers and Republicans in the Legislature has often been frosty, and he said he didn’t think that would change. But Evers said that in the upcoming legislative session, in which the two chambers are more closely divided than in recent years, it would be necessary for the two parties to work together to find solutions.

“I don’t think it’ll be much different,” Evers said. “They’re going to be huffing and puffing and I’m going to be huffing and puffing so on and so forth. But I believe that the makeup of the Legislature is going to make it imperative on all of us to come to some reasonable conclusions. We’ll see what happens.” 

“We’ll propose something, they’re going to save it or throw it out,” he continued. “We get five minutes together and get something accomplished. But at the end of the day, my priorities are in the budget.”