National forest in Colorado
Price, limit and dates from Recreation.gov, read Nov 12, 2026. This place's own page. This page isn't a permit.
A permit usually costs $5 to $20 a tree, online or at a ranger station. Most national forests give fourth graders theirs free. Print it, drive in and cut a small tree where the forest's map says you can.
It's legal on national forests and BLM land. It's never legal in a national park, where you can't take any plant at all. The Forest Service has sold these permits since at least the 1950s. People bought 312,168 of them in 2024.
You already own a lot of forest. National forests and grasslands cover about 193 million acres. BLM looks after about 245 million more. In a national park 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 cover more than one forest. A tag usually costs $5 to $20, plus $2.50 an order if you buy online. A permit is only good on the forest that sold it, so buy one for the forest you'll visit.
The rules are simple, and they matter. Cut the whole tree and keep the stump low. Stay out of plantations, burns and wilderness. Leave protected trees like whitebark pine alone. And every year since 1970, one national forest has sent a giant tree to the U.S. Capitol.
Pick a national forest or BLM office near you that sells a permit this year. The finder shows which ones are on sale.
Find it on the mapIt's 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.
See what it costsCut only where the forest's map says you can. Take the whole tree and leave a low stump. Never cut the top off a big one.
Try the cutting gameThe full how-toPut the tag on the trunk before you drive off, then get it into water at home.
Pack the truckHow to tie it downThe agencies' reason is thinning. The cutting areas are crowded stands of small young trees.
“A unique opportunity to help thin densely populated stands of small-diameter trees.”
Cutting one small tree by the rules doesn't hurt the forest.
What foresters sayA subalpine fir 4 to 6 feet tall in the shade is often 35 to 50 years old.
USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System, Abies lasiocarpa and NCTA Quick Tree Facts. Read Nov 11, 2026.A spruce needle rolls between your fingers and a fir needle is too flat to.
Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest on Recreation.gov and Oregon State University, spruce species. Read Nov 11, 2026.A wild tree may be sparser than a farm tree because nobody shears it.
Minnesota DNR, Harvest permits on state forest lands. Read Nov 11, 2026.A fresh-cut tree can drink up to a gallon of water a day.
Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest on Recreation.gov. Read Nov 11, 2026.True fir cones "perch like little owls on the topmost branches."
Oregon State University, true fir genus. Read Nov 11, 2026.Douglas-fir is not a true fir and its Latin name means false hemlock.
Oregon State University, douglas-fir genus. Read Nov 11, 2026.National forest permits run from free to $20 a tree, and most are $5 or $10. Recreation.gov adds $2.50 an order. Buy at a ranger office or a local store and you skip that fee. BLM's offices run $1 to $10 a tree. On Nov. 12 its permit store listed $1 at 21 of the 41 we read.
For comparison, the National Christmas Tree Association's survey found buyers paid a median of $75 for a real tree in 2023. Every price and how it compares.
A Christmas tree permit is a printed permit, often with a tag for the trunk. It lets your household cut a set number of trees for your own use, usually one to five. You cut them where that forest says and at the sizes it allows. You can't sell the tree. Several forests put it this way: "Trees obtained under the Christmas tree permit may not be resold."
Two of these seven trees are fine to take home. Pick the ones you think you can cut.
0 of 2 found. Each tree tells you its rule.
These ranges come from 27 forest pages read on Nov. 11. The rules most forests share
Nine wild Christmas trees by their shape. Pick one to see the real tree, how to know it in winter, where it grows and how it does in a living room.
Whitebark pine is federally threatened, and removing or damaging one on federal land is illegal. Five needles in a bundle: leave it.
Pack the truck. Tap what you'd take, then try to drive home.
0 of 8 packed. Each thing says why it earns its spot.
The tree slid off at the first bend. Rope or ratchet straps: Get strong ones, enough for three tie-downs on the roof. Skip the thin twine.
The permit's still on the printer. Most forests say a permit is valid only on paper. Bring a pen: some want it signed and dated after you cut.
Tied down and legal. Drive safe. The whole checklist has 24 things on it, most of them for the road, the snow and the walk back.
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.
It's a paper permit, usually with a tag, that lets your household cut a set number of trees for your own use. It's good on one national forest or BLM office, in the areas and at the sizes that place names. The whole idea.
On a national forest, almost always. Federal rules forbid cutting a tree there without authorization. The clear exception is the Chugach in Alaska, which allows one free tree per household with no permit.
National forest permits run from free to $20 a tree. Most are $5 or $10: $5 at Mt. Hood and Lolo, $10 at White River and Eldorado. Pike charges $20. 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 a tree from a crowded stand and clear the snow away. Cut low with a handsaw and take the whole tree. Scatter the branches, and tag the tree before you move it. The full guide, step by step.
Lay a blanket on the roof and put the trunk to the front. Tie it at the bottom, middle and top to fixed tie-down points with strong rope or straps. Tug hard from every side, then drive slowly.
Every year since 1970, one national forest has sent a tree to the U.S. Capitol. Here are all 57. Each ornament is one year, starting on the lowest branch.
2026Engelmann spruce, 76 feetNez Perce-Clearwater National Forests, Idaho
19702026
A bigger ornament is a taller tree: from 40 feet to 88. The star is this year's.
The Architect of the Capitol keeps the list. Every tree in a table and how one gets picked
Put the tag on the trunk before you drive off, then get it into water at home.
We build tools like this and give them away. Subscribe to More Than Just Parks on Substack to keep them coming.
Forests and BLM offices selling a permit online within 100 miles of each city. The nearest come first.