Two people carry a freshly cut fir out of a snowy national forest, a black dog running ahead of them
More Than Just ParksChristmas Tree Finder

144 places with a permit online · 110 on sale today144 online · 110 on sale today

Type your ZIP. We'll show you where it's legal, when sales open and what a permit costs, straight from the agencies.Type your ZIP for where it's legal, when sales open and what a permit costs, straight from the agencies.

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How this works

USDA Forest Service photo by Andrew Avitt

How this works

79 national forests list a 2026 Christmas tree permit on Recreation.gov, and 65 Bureau of Land Management offices list one in BLM's permit store. We read both on Nov 12, 2026 and print what they say: the dates, the price, the limit and the rules, each with its source. Sale times are in each place's own time zone. Recreation.gov prints them in Eastern, and we convert. A permit is the agency's to sell, and the rules on it are the agency's. We quote them and link them. We don't sell permits, and nothing here is one.

2 forests have pages on Recreation.gov with no permit type named and no dates on them. We print what the page says and no date. 53 more Forest Service units and 50 BLM field offices don't list a permit in either store. We say "not posted yet" for those, never "no program": some sell at the office and never post one online. Distances are straight lines to a forest's boundary, not to the cutting area and not by road. The forest's own map shows where you can cut. How we read the agencies · Not a permit, not the agency

The numbers

Christmas tree permit stats Twenty numbers with their sources

Twenty numbers about cutting your own Christmas tree on public land, each with its year and where it came from. Use them, quote them, link them. Where we're less than sure, the note says why.

From Albuquerque Journal, Cathy Cook, Dec. 5, 2025, Recreation.gov tree permits index and Architect of the Capitol, Capitol Christmas Tree page, read Nov 11, 2026.

The twenty numbers

How sure: Sure means read on the agency's or the primary source's own page. Fairly sure means a news outlet reporting the agency's number, or an industry survey. Less sure means sources disagree, or we only saw a summary.

One series: the Capitol tree

Most of these numbers are one year's count. The one long series the research holds is the Capitol Christmas Tree, every year since 1970, so that's the one we draw. Every tree in a table.

From Architect of the Capitol, Capitol Christmas Tree page, read Nov 11, 2026.

How tall each U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree was, 1970 to 2026, in feet. The tallest were 88 feet; 2026's is 76.

From Architect of the Capitol, Capitol Christmas Tree page, 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.

Numbers nobody publishes

We looked and couldn't find these anywhere, so you won't find them here: how much money tree permits bring in nationally, permit totals forest by forest, how many acres are open to cutting, how many permits BLM sells, and how many fourth graders claim a free tree. If you know a source, tell us.

From Albuquerque Journal, Cathy Cook, Dec. 5, 2025 and Federal Register, Dec. 29, 2008, final rule, read Nov 11, 2026.

Using these numbers

Quote any of them with the source beside it. Link this page if it helps your readers. Each number is as of the year shown, read Nov. 11, 2026.

From Albuquerque Journal, Cathy Cook, Dec. 5, 2025, 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.