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

How it works

How Christmas tree permits work Your first trip in five steps

Five steps, start to finish. People who've done it say the cutting is the quick part; the snowy road up and the haul back to the car are the hard parts. When you want the detail, each step links to the full guide.

From Recreation.gov, "Cut a Tree for the Holidays from Your National Forest", r/Bozeman, "7 car pile up on the trail" (2022), r/Bend, "Harvesting Christmas Trees" (2024), r/Reno, "Is Dog Valley accessible for tree cutting this year?" (2024) and r/SaltLakeCity, "What is it like to cut a Christmas tree in the Stansbury Mountains?" (2023), read Nov 11, 2026.

1. Get the permit

  1. Pick one forest. A permit is good on the forest or BLM office that sold it and nowhere else, so choose where you'll go first. Find one near you.

    From Plumas National Forest on Recreation.gov, BLM Wyoming's Christmas trees page (2025 season) and Recreation.gov and BLM's permit store, as the finder read them, read Nov 11, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026.

  2. Buy it. On Recreation.gov (you'll need an account, and there's a $2.50 fee), at a ranger district office, or at a local store some forests use. BLM sells through its own store, forestproducts.blm.gov.

    From Recreation.gov, "Cut a Tree for the Holidays from Your National Forest", Mt. Hood National Forest (its page still shows the 2025 season), Lolo National Forest and BLM's online forest products permit store, read Nov 11, 2026.

  3. Read the rules that come with it. Your forest's permit page lists its own height limit, stump height, tree count and closed areas. Those are the ones that count.

    From Kaibab National Forest and Chippewa National Forest news release (Nov 19, 2025), read Nov 11, 2026.

  4. Print it. "Permits MUST be printed to be valid," says the Rogue River-Siskiyou, and most forests agree. Sales are final, even if it snows you out.

    From Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Pike-San Isabel National Forests, Tonto National Forest and White River National Forest (updated Nov 10, 2026), read Nov 11, 2026.

More on buying and printing.

From Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, read Nov 11, 2026.

2. Find the cutting area

  1. Get the map. Download the forest's cutting map before you leave; Plumas says the map is required with the permit. Carry it on paper too: the Avenza phone app no longer gets the Forest Service's new maps.

    From Plumas National Forest on Recreation.gov, Eldorado National Forest and Carson National Forest, motor vehicle use maps, read Nov 11, 2026.

  2. Know where you can't cut. Wilderness, campgrounds, plantations, timber sales, private land and recent burns are off-limits nearly everywhere. Many forests also keep you 50 to 200 feet back from main roads.

    From Mt. Hood National Forest (its page still shows the 2025 season), Lincoln National Forest (updated Oct 30, 2026), White River National Forest (updated Nov 10, 2026), Eldorado National Forest and Pike-San Isabel National Forests, read Nov 11, 2026.

  3. Plan the drive. Forest roads in December can be snowy and slow, and there's often no cell service. Start early, be back before dark, and tell someone where you're going.

    From Lincoln National Forest (updated Oct 30, 2026), Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests on Recreation.gov, White Mountain National Forest on Recreation.gov and Gifford Pinchot National Forest on Recreation.gov, read Nov 11, 2026.

What to bring for the road and the snow.

From Lincoln National Forest (updated Oct 30, 2026), read Nov 11, 2026.

3. Cut it right

  1. Pick from a crowd. "Choose a tree from a dense area so the remaining trees have room to grow." Not a lone tree out in the open.

    From Lincoln National Forest (updated Oct 30, 2026), Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests on Recreation.gov and Eldorado National Forest, read Nov 11, 2026.

  2. Measure it. Trees look smaller outside. Bring a tape: height limits run from 10 to 20 feet depending on the forest, and an 8-foot ceiling fits a 7-foot tree at most.

    From Lolo National Forest, Lincoln National Forest (updated Oct 30, 2026), Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests on Recreation.gov and University of Georgia CAES, read Nov 11, 2026.

  3. Cut the whole tree, low. Never just the top. Clear the snow away and cut close to the ground; stump limits run 5 to 12 inches. Trim the live branches off the stump and scatter them.

    From Lincoln National Forest (updated Oct 30, 2026), Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests on Recreation.gov, Dixie National Forest on Recreation.gov, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and White River National Forest (updated Nov 10, 2026), read Nov 11, 2026.

Picking and cutting, in detail.

From National Christmas Tree Association, selection tips, read Nov 11, 2026.

4. Tag it

Before you move the tree, attach the tag "to the main stem," as Pike-San Isabel puts it, or put the permit on your dashboard where your forest says so. Some forests also want you to sign and date it first.

From Pike-San Isabel National Forests, Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, Eldorado National Forest and Monongahela National Forest on Recreation.gov, read Nov 11, 2026.

5. Get it home

  1. Carry it, don't drag it. "Dragging the tree will rub off needles and bark." A tarp helps.

    From White Mountain National Forest on Recreation.gov and Recreation.gov, "Cut a Tree for the Holidays from Your National Forest", read Nov 11, 2026.

  2. Tie it down. Trunk toward the front of the car, tied at the bottom, middle and top, then a few hard tugs. All 50 states make it illegal for things to fall off a vehicle.

    From AAA, "Safely Transporting a Real Christmas Tree" (Dec 2019), read Nov 11, 2026.

  3. Water it fast. Saw a fresh half-inch off the trunk and stand it in water. A fresh tree can drink up to a gallon a day, so check it daily.

    From National Christmas Tree Association, care tips and Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest on Recreation.gov, read Nov 11, 2026.

Getting it home and keeping it alive.

From AAA, "Safely Transporting a Real Christmas Tree" (Dec 2019) and National Christmas Tree Association, care tips, read Nov 11, 2026.

That's it

New to all of this? Start with what the program is. Ready? Find a forest near you.

From Recreation.gov tree permits index and Recreation.gov and BLM's permit store, as the finder read them, read Nov 11, 2026 and Nov 12, 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.