144 places sell a permit online110 on sale today23 states
It's legal, and it's cheap. You buy a permit, usually $5 to $20 a tree, online or at a ranger station, and most national forests give fourth graders theirs free. 110 forests and BLM offices are selling permits today.
On sale today 110Opens later 33Sold out 1
Every tree on the map is a national forest or BLM office that sells Christmas tree permits. The lit ones are selling today. The snowy ones open later.
A paper permit, usually with a tag, that lets your household cut a set number of trees for your own use on one national forest or BLM office, in the areas and sizes it names. The whole idea, explained.
On a national forest, almost always: federal rules forbid cutting a tree there except as authorized. The clear exception is the Chugach in Alaska, which allows one free tree per household with no permit.
On the national forests read on Nov. 11, from free to $20 a tree. Most were $5 to $10 ($5 at Mt. Hood and Lolo, $10 at White River and Eldorado, $20 at Pike). Each forest's page in the finder prints its own price.
Yes, on the forests that run a program and only in their marked cutting areas. Some programs pause, like the Lake Tahoe Basin's, and some open only certain districts.
10 to 20 feet, depending on the forest: 10 on the Lincoln, 20 on the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes and the Dixie. Your permit says yours.
Permits, prices and sale dates read Nov 12, 2026 from Recreation.gov and BLM's permit store. Boundaries from the Forest Service and BLM. This page isn't a permit.
You buy a permit, usually $5 to $20 a tree, online or at a ranger station, and most national forests give fourth graders theirs free. Then you print it, drive into the forest, and cut a small tree in the areas the forest marks on its map.
It's legal on national forests and BLM land, but never in a national park, where taking any plant is against the rules. The Forest Service has sold these permits since at least the 1950s, and people bought 312,168 of them in 2024.
You already own a lot of forest. National forests and grasslands cover about 193 million acres, and BLM looks after about 245 million more. Unlike a national park, where you can't take so much as a pinecone, a national forest is run for many uses, and selling what grows there is one of them.
Every fall Christmas tree permits for 79 national forests and grasslands go up on Recreation.gov, some covering more than one forest. A tag usually costs $5 to $20, plus $2.50 an order if you buy online. Buy one for the forest you'll actually visit, because it's only good there.
The rules are simple and they matter: cut the whole tree, keep the stump low, stay out of plantations, burns and wilderness, and leave protected trees like whitebark pine alone. And every year one national forest sends a giant tree to the U.S. Capitol, a tradition since 1970.
Pick a national forest or BLM office near you that sells a permit this year. The finder shows which ones are on sale.
Usually $5 to $20 a tree on Recreation.gov, BLM's store or at a ranger station. Most forests want it on paper, and there's often no cell service out there anyway.
Only in the areas on the forest's map, the whole tree, with a low stump. Never the top of a big one.
Put the tag on the trunk before you drive off, then get it into water at home.
National forests are run for many uses, and the law lets the Forest Service sell trees and other forest products to carry that out. National parks work the other way: their rules forbid removing plants at all.
The agencies' own reason is thinning: the cutting areas are crowded stands of small young trees, and taking some "helps other trees grow larger and can open areas that provide forage for wildlife," as the Santa Fe National Forest puts it. Eldorado's Jennifer Chapman told a reporter the program is mainly about connecting people to the land, with the thinning "an added benefit."
Is it good for the forest, then? Done by the rules, it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't fix fire risk either. The honest answer.
Is it bad for the forest? The honest answer, with its sources
On the national forests we read on Nov. 11, from free to $20 a tree, most of them $5 or $10. Recreation.gov adds $2.50 an order; buying at a ranger office or a local vendor skips that fee. BLM usually charges $5, and last winter's $1 BLM tree was a one-season deal.
For comparison, people who bought a real tree in 2023 paid a median of $75 for it, according to the National Christmas Tree Association's survey. Every price, and how it compares.
Read from Recreation.gov and BLM's permit store, Nov 12, 2026.
The seven that come up most, one from each part of the trip. There are 68 in all.
A paper permit, usually with a tag, that lets your household cut a set number of trees for your own use on one national forest or BLM office, in the areas and sizes it names. The whole idea, explained.
On a national forest, almost always: federal rules forbid cutting a tree there except as authorized. The clear exception is the Chugach in Alaska, which allows one free tree per household with no permit.
On the national forests read on Nov. 11, from free to $20 a tree. Most were $5 to $10 ($5 at Mt. Hood and Lolo, $10 at White River and Eldorado, $20 at Pike). Each forest's page in the finder prints its own price.
Yes, on the forests that run a program and only in their marked cutting areas. Some programs pause, like the Lake Tahoe Basin's, and some open only certain districts.
10 to 20 feet, depending on the forest: 10 on the Lincoln, 20 on the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes and the Dixie. Your permit says yours.
Pick from a crowded stand, clear the snow, cut low with a handsaw, take the whole tree, scatter the branches and tag it before you move it. The full guide, step by step.
Blanket on the roof, trunk to the front, tied at the bottom, middle and top to fixed tie-down points with strong rope or straps, then tugged hard from every side. Drive slowly.
Every forest and BLM office with a permit online within 100 miles of each one, nearest first.