Permits to cut Christmas trees in state and national forests in Colorado
Want to cut your own from a national forest in Colorado?
Christmas tree permits, which allow you to cut your own Christmas tree on
public lands, are now on sale at National Forest/BLM offices and selected
retail outlets in southwestern Colorado.
The Rocky Mountain Region manages 17 national forests and
seven national grasslands throughout
Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, along with most of South Dakota and
Wyoming. Cutting a Christmas tree in a national forest is a
tradition for many residents of the Rocky Mountain Region. In doing
so, you take an active part in managing your national forests as you
celebrate your own family's holiday tradition! To skip
general tree cutting information and view cutting area maps:
Regional Christmas Tree Cutting Information Map
Colorado Christmas tree Cutting Map This
year's regional primary Christmas tree cutting dates are always set
at the last minute (usually announced in late November) and take
place in early December. In
order to provide some consistency for the region, primary Christmas
tree cutting dates are set which means that all tree cutting areas
in our region must be open between those dates. However, some areas
allow cutting as early as Thanksgiving and some allow cutting until
the end of the year.
Christmas tree cutting permits are
generally available from most US Forest
Service offices throughout
the Rocky Mountain Region. Check out the informational links below
or call the office of the closest
Ranger
District
to
the area you want to cut in to verify that they are offering
Christmas tree cutting permits.
Call the Public Lands Information Center
(PLIC)
at 303-239-3838 for more information or
check out the informational links below.
There is now a centralized place
online to buy a Christmas tree permit in a national forest in any state that has a forest that allows it; see this page on
Recreation.gov. See the
following links below for specific information by location:
-
Denver and Front Range Areas:
Four primary cutting areas along the
Front Range in the Arapaho, Pike and Roosevelt National Forests serve
metro Denver and surrounding communities (click to see a
map
). See their
website
for more information! Core Cutting Dates:
Call the park or forest to verify this year's adtes - they are usually
announced in late November
Permits: $10 each (last reported). One tree per permit. Limit 5 permits
per person. All sales are final.
Area Entry Hours: 8:30 am to 2:30 pm to For your
safety, no entry is allowed before or after these hours.
- Grand Valley District Christmas Tree Permits -
Christmas tree permits will be available for purchase at Grand Mesa,
Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests (GMUG) office locations
beginning November 20, for personal use. The cost per permit is $8.00
and may be purchased with cash, check or credit card at National Forest
office locations. There is a maximum of five tree permits per person.
More information here
-
Routt National Forest
- 2019 Permits are $10 per tree with a maximum
of five per household. Have your permit with you when cutting a tree, to
be secured to the tree at the time of cutting.
-
San Juan National Forest
- A 2019 permit, which costs $8, allows you
to cut one tree up to 20 feet tall for personal use. The permits expire
on December 31.
-
White River National Forest
- 2019 Permits are $10 per tree and may
be purchased at the WRNF offices or the BLM Field Office in Glenwood
Springs, Monday through Friday during normal business hours. For
additional information, please contact the White River National Forest
in Carbondale at 970-963-2266 or the Glenwood Springs BLM Field Office
at 970-947-2800.
- Pike and San Isabel National Forests Cimarron and Comanche National Grassland - Permits become available in the fall and may be purchased at any ranger district office. Select each office to find out
more about Christmas tree permits in the area below.
Colorado state forests:
- Christmas tree cutting permits at Golden Gate State Park - Beginning November 12, a limited number of permits will
be available for the Golden Gate Canyon State Park Christmas tree sale,
just 30 minutes outside of the Denver metro area. All cutting
activities will take plac on one weekend in early December. On Saturday, December 7, 2019, Golden Gate
Canyon State Park will hold a Christmas Tree Cut and Holiday Open House. The park is offering 250 permits for
cutting a Christmas tree in selected areas of the park. The permit cost is $35 per tree, with a limit of two
permits per household. Permit holders will be able to choose to arrive at either 9 am or 11 am for cutting
their tree. This year, Christmas tree permits will be issued on a lottery system. From Friday, Nov. 1 through
Tuesday, Nov. 12, applications will be available online by visiting our website at the following link:
https://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks/GoldenGateCanyon/Pages/default.aspx . No applications will be
accepted over the phone, or in person at the visitor center. All applications must be submitted through our
website. Permits not paid for by the deadline will be forfeited and another name will be selected.
Payments can be made by credit card, or in person with photo identification. On Saturday, December 7, all
participants that purchased Christmas tree permits must check in at the visitor center to pick up their permit,
prior to going out and cutting their tree. A valid park pass is required for each vehicle (either an annual
state parks pass or an $8 daily pass), which can be purchased at the visitor center. The tree permits are valid
rain or snow, and no refunds will be given for bad weather. Areas for both 4-wheel and 2-wheel drive vehicles
will be available, and some hiking will be required. Permit holders with high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles
can use the pre-selected backcountry area and, in the case of bad weather, must have chains available for use.
Access to the backcountry area will be limited to 9 am through 2 pm All other vehicles will be required to
stay in the designated parking areas along the main park roadway. Access to these areas will be available from 9 am to 3 pm. Trees must be cut with hand tools, such as a handsaw or an axe. Chainsaws and power saws are
strictly prohibited. Tree selections include Douglas fir, Ponderosa pine, Lodge pole pine and Rocky Mountain
juniper. Christmas trees up
to 15 feet tall or six inches in trunk diameter may be removed. . Permit holders will be assisting Golden Gate
Canyon State Park by thinning overcrowded dense vegetation. This
selective thinning will improve the overall forest health and reduce the
impacts of future wildfires.
For more current information, see this page
or contact the Visitor Center at
303-582-3707.
General information
(Some of these external links and the search engine on
their website may not work all of the time )
Do you know of any Christmas tree farms or other special Christmas and winter events in Colorado? Please tell me about them - Click here to write to me!