Cut Your Own Christmas Tree
Get into the holiday mood with a trek into the National Forest to cut your own Christmas Tree. A Christmas Tree pass costs just $5 and can be purchased online, at ranger stations, or at business locations around the state.
Each national forest has designated areas where Christmas tree cutting is allowed. You cannot cut tress within a congressional designated Wilderness Area, fire closures, or within 200’ of designated major roads. The permits are only good in the National Forest, you cannot cut trees in wilderness areas or established recreation sites, and you need to make sure you have the appropriate trail pass (or Sno-Park pass if you are parking in one of the state’s many Sno Parks.
Northwest Portal can help you find the perfect place to go for your Christmas tree. It can be challenging to find easily accessible Forest Service land as the recreation land closest to the road is often owned by the state, and many forest service roads are closed or just impassible in the winter. Pick a destination that is convenient, but also has easy access from a plowed road or a short distance up an open Forest Service road that may not be plowed: ideally, pick a spot where you do not have to go too far off a plowed road as you don’t want to get stuck! In general, roads above the sno-parks will be closed once there is enough snow to groom, so assume that you will not be able to drive the roads past the Sno-Parks. (You can check the Snow NW web map and app to see exactly which roads are being groomed.)
To help you pick a destination and make sense of land ownership (which can be confusing with private and other public lands adjoining the national forests), we have updated our Kids web map to highlight National Forest land in a dark green and added Sno-Parks and other winter access to the map. To see what pass is required, click on the trail access or sno-park icon on the map. If you are parking on the side of a Forest Service road and not at a designated trail-head you do not need a recreation pass. You will still need to check with the forest to see what areas are open to cutting, as some forests have restrictions, and, once you have cut your tree, you will need to attach the permit tag to the tree to show that it was cut legally. When you buy the permit, you will get a detailed instruction pamphlet with information specific to the forest that issued the permit. The Kids Map requires an internet connection, but if you are going to a place without cell coverage, you can downloaded the Outdoors NW or Snow NW apps, and download the region where you are heading for off-line navigation. Those maps do not call out Forest Service land in a separate color, but if you click on any spot within a recreation area, the pop-up will tell you who owns that location.
You can buy permits and get details for the forest you want to visit at the following links:
