A short history
A short history of cutting Christmas trees on public land From the 1930s to now
People have been hauling Christmas trees off national forests for almost a century, and for a while it went badly. Here's how a free-for-all became a $5 permit you buy on your phone and print at home.
From National Archives, Cody White, Dec. 15, 2020, National Geographic, Alejandra Borunda, Dec. 14, 2021 and Albuquerque Journal, Cathy Cook, Dec. 5, 2025, read Nov 11, 2026.
The 1930s and 1940s: trees by the truckload
1930. An Eldorado National Forest report defines a Christmas tree as "a tree displaying a short internode combined with a symmetry of form that is pleasing to the eye." A short internode means the branch layers sit close together.
From National Archives, Cody White, Dec. 15, 2020, read Nov 11, 2026.
1937. National forests sold trees commercially, not just to families. On the Shasta, trees went out on sleds "Two hundred trees at a time," about 800 to a truck, bound for cold storage in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
From National Archives, Cody White, Dec. 15, 2020, read Nov 11, 2026.
1939. A forest researcher estimated Americans bought 9 million Christmas trees a year, and "over 10 percent were on public lands."
From National Geographic, Alejandra Borunda, Dec. 14, 2021, read Nov 11, 2026.
The bad old days. With little regulation, "in Montana, for example, huge swaths of forest were sometimes denuded."
From National Geographic, Alejandra Borunda, Dec. 14, 2021, read Nov 11, 2026.
1942. In wartime, regional foresters were told box cars could carry Christmas trees that year, with civilian morale part of the reason.
From National Archives, Cody White, Dec. 15, 2020, read Nov 11, 2026.
Late 1940s. A panel of forest supervisors set harvest policy: "The topping of trees was discontinued, with only whole trees now allowed to be cut." The rule still stands.
From National Archives, Cody White, Dec. 15, 2020 and Lincoln National Forest (updated Oct 30, 2026), read Nov 11, 2026.
The 1950s and 1960s: the family trip begins
1950s. "The Forest Service has had a permit-based system since at least the 1950s," a reporter wrote in 2025, citing the agency.
From Albuquerque Journal, Cathy Cook, Dec. 5, 2025, read Nov 11, 2026.
Dec. 8, 1956. The San Isabel National Forest in Colorado held a Family Christmas Tree Cutting near Lake Isabel, about 44 miles southwest of Pueblo, even after nine inches of snow the night before. National Geographic calls it the moment the forest made cutting a community event, kept to places that needed thinning.
From National Archives, Cody White, Dec. 15, 2020 and National Geographic, Alejandra Borunda, Dec. 14, 2021, read Nov 11, 2026.
1965. The Pike National Forest opened public cutting the first two weekends of December: $1 a tree "regardless of size," up to five a person, 20 for groups like churches.
From National Archives, Cody White, Dec. 15, 2020, read Nov 11, 2026.
The law behind it
BLM sells trees under the Materials Act of 1947, and a BLM spokeswoman told a reporter it has "likely" sold permits since then. The Forest Service sells them under a regulation that rests on the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 and the National Forest Management Act of 1976.
From 43 CFR part 5400, incl. 5400.0-3 and 5402.0-6, Albuquerque Journal, Cathy Cook, Dec. 5, 2025 and 36 CFR part 223, read Nov 11, 2026.
In 2008 the Forest Service finished a rule that named Christmas trees as a "special forest product." It never took effect: in June 2009 it was "delayed indefinitely" because "More time is needed for the Forest Service to properly respond to the comments," and it's still on hold today. So your permit runs under the agency's general authority to sell forest products.
From Federal Register, Dec. 29, 2008, final rule, Federal Register, June 1, 2009, delay of effective date, abstract and 36 CFR part 223, read Nov 11, 2026.
Two times the courts got involved
In 2005, after a court ruling in a case brought by Earth Island Institute and others, the Forest Service suspended "nearly 1,500 routine activities," the Capitol tree cutting among them. The plaintiffs' lawyer said the agency "went far beyond the intent of the court order."
From High Country News, Oct. 31, 2005, read Nov 11, 2026.
In 2019 a Mexican spotted owl injunction halted timber work on five New Mexico forests and one in Arizona. A later order that WildEarth Guardians and the Forest Service agreed to freed Christmas tree cutting and the Capitol tree.
From Susan Montoya Bryan via iNFOnews, Oct. 23, 2019, read Nov 11, 2026.
Going online
Nov. 19, 2018. The Forest Service and GSA's 18F launched Open Forest, the first way to buy a tree permit online, on four pilot forests: Arapaho and Roosevelt, Flathead, Mt. Hood and Shoshone. About 5,000 permits sold online that first season. On the Flathead, 1,460 trees sold online and 994 at offices.
From 18F, Feb. 12, 2019, Open Forest launch post, FedScoop, Nov. 20, 2018 and Daily Inter Lake, Kianna Gardner, Dec. 14, 2019, read Nov 11, 2026.
2019. Nine more forests in Washington, Wyoming, Colorado and Oregon joined.
From Daily Inter Lake, Kianna Gardner, Dec. 14, 2019, read Nov 11, 2026.
Fall 2020. Permits moved to Recreation.gov forest by forest, partly for offices that might stay closed in the pandemic.
From Sierra Rec Magazine, Nov. 4, 2020, Tahoe Basin online sales and Pinedale Online, Oct. 29, 2020, read Nov 11, 2026.
What happened next. The Forest Service told ABC it sold about 306,000 permits a year from 2020 to 2023, against about 240,000 a year in 2018 and 2019. Counts for 2020 alone don't agree with that average, so we don't print one for that year. In 2024 it was 312,168.
From ABC7, Nov. 22, 2023, National Geographic, Alejandra Borunda, Dec. 14, 2021, USDA Forest Service, Patrick Lair, Nov. 15, 2021 and Albuquerque Journal, Cathy Cook, Dec. 5, 2025, read Nov 11, 2026.
The fourth-grade tree
In fall 2015, under Every Kid in a Park, forests started giving fourth graders a free tree; the Colville and Idaho Panhandle offered it "as long as supplies last." Congress wrote Every Kid Outdoors into law in 2019 and, in December 2024, extended it "through 2031." How to claim one.
From Spokesman-Review, Nov. 9, 2015 and Sen. Boozman release, Dec. 20, 2024, Every Kid Outdoors extension, read Nov 11, 2026.
The last few winters
September 2024. The Lake Tahoe Basin paused its program "for several years" so saplings near the roads can grow.
From LTBMU release via Tahoe Living with Fire, Sept. 19, 2024, read Nov 11, 2026.
December 2025. Interior's "One Dollar, One Tree" cut BLM tree permits to $1, up to three trees, through Jan. 31. Sixty years after the Pike's $1 tree, the price came back for one winter.
From Interior press release, Dec. 5, 2025 and National Archives, Cody White, Dec. 15, 2020, read Nov 11, 2026.
2026. BLM Ely is back to $5, and Idaho's Nez Perce-Clearwater sends a 76-foot Engelmann spruce to the Capitol. The Capitol tree.
From BLM Ely District announcement (Oct 1, 2026), AOC blog, Jim Kaufmann, Aug. 13, 2026 with September editor's note and East Idaho News, Oct. 26, 2026, harvest story, read Nov 11, 2026.
Written by More Than Just Parks from the agencies' own pages, read Nov 11, 2026. The permit you buy, and the map and rules printed on it, govern. Not a permit, not the agency.