How To Harvest a Christmas Tree on Public Land

Finding a conifer to put up in your living room is cheap and easy. Here’s what you need to know.

ByNick Mott

Dec 13, 2024

Table of contents

Why Cut Your Own Tree?

How Do You Cut a Tree?

Types of Trees

Do's and Don'ts

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Just after the snow begins to stick in the high mountains and Thanksgiving has come and gone, cars with trees tied onto their roofs begin to line the roadways. It’s Christmas tree harvest time. I live in Southwest Montana, a place with abundant federal land in almost every direction, so every year I get in on the action too. We bundle up in warm clothes, throw our electric Stihl saw in the car, and make the slow drive up icy Forest Service roads.

Picking the right Christmas tree is as much art as it is science: It should be just the right height, with that classic holiday shape (no sad Charlie Brown trees) and full branches on every side. We pick a different place to harvest just about every year—both to spread out our impact and for the sake of exploring. Finding your own Christmas tree on public land can be a rewarding experience, and one that actually helps to improve the ecosystem near your home. Below, we break down the essentials for harvesting a tree safely and legally.

Why Cut Your Own Tree?

Cutting your own Christmas tree is extremely common where I live in rural Montana, given that we have so much public land nearby. But even if you live in a big city—especially in the West—there might be ample opportunity for you to head into the woods to find the perfect Christmas tree, too.

There are plenty of good reasons to cut your own tree. First off, it’s just plain fun. Tracking down trees and analyzing them for the right shape and size requires you to see the landscape in different ways than you’re accustomed to. Maybe you explore a different trail than one you typically use to walk the dog or mountain bike, and in all likelihood, searching for the perfect tree will force you to venture off the beaten path. Hoofing through deep snow or along icy, closed roads makes for a unique adventure—even for those who often venture deep into the backcountry.

Dragging a freshly cut Christmas Tree down the snowy path with a dog

Second, harvesting a tree on public land can be a good thing for the forest as a whole. According to the Forest Service, Christmas tree harvests can help thin our overgrown forests, improving their health. The reason: A century of fire suppression has led to an unnatural buildup of highly flammable dead trees and brush on the forest floor in many ecosystems, leading to larger, hotter fires. Small-diameter conifers that would’ve ordinarily burnt up in periodic wildfires have sprung up between older, more fire-resilient trees, creating millions of acres of what foresters deem unhealthy forests. Sure, cutting Christmas trees won’t solve a hundred years of bad forestry policies. But the size of tree that you want in your living room is precisely the tree that needs removing. Getting rid of small and densely growing trees can help make the landscape healthier, less fire-prone—and safer for nearby towns and communities.

Harvesting a tree on public land is also arguably more sustainable than purchasing a plastic or farmed Christmas tree. Yes, a plastic tree might last for years, but it’s made almost entirely of fossil fuels. Meanwhile farmed, living trees are often grown in unhealthy monocultures, then are wrapped in plastic and trucked many miles to their retail locations. Though cutting a tree on public land might seem like it’s contributing to deforestation, as we detailed above, in many places, forests need thinning to stay healthy. Plus, the carbon footprint of your tree is more or less limited to driving your car to the trailhead.

Finally, cutting your own tree can save you a good bit of cash. Buying a real Christmas tree from Home Depot, for example, will cost you anywhere from $65 to well over $100, while cutting a tree on federal land will cost you as little as $5 depending on the permit. Even in parts of the country with more expensive permits, the total cost won’t run more than 20 bucks—still less than a third of the price of a tree at your local retail store.

How Do You Cut a Tree on Public Land?

Cutting Christmas trees is legal on lots of federal, state, and county land. As a general guideline, stick to public land for your tree hunting unless you have express permission from a landowner to cut a tree on private property. Mapping apps like Gaia and OnX can help you figure out the configuration of your local public and private land, so you can avoid any inadvertent trespassing. We've also written an entire article on how to determine the boundaries of public land here.

Recreation.gov is another good resource and has a handy tool that shows the price of tree-cutting permits in national forests all over the country, in addition to how to obtain the permit. Where I live in Montana, permits cost $10 per tree on state land, and only $5 per tree on Forest Service land (plus a $2.50 processing fee). More populated areas can be more complicated for tree harvesting. If you live in Boulder County, Colorado, for instance, you might need to venture farther into national forest land to find a tree, since open space closer to town has already been “sufficiently thinned.”

Once you’ve dialed in where it’s legal to cut your tree, make sure to purchase your permit, print it out, and display it on your dashboard when you park so that it’s easily visible. To cut the tree itself, if you don’t already own a chainsaw, which can be expensive, there’s no need to buy one—a handsaw should work just fine.

What Type of Tree is Best?

There’s no hard-and-fast rule on exactly which type of tree to cut down. We prefer Douglas fir or spruce since they have a more “classic” Christmas tree look compared to some other varieties (like lodgepole pine). But, the ecosystem where you live will likely dictate what type of tree you harvest, since different trees are prevalent at different elevations and in different parts of the country.

Now that you’ve figured out where to look for a tree and what kind you’re aiming for, which one should you actually cut down? You can start by looking at it. What’s its shape? Is it thin and scraggly a la Charlie Brown? How tall is the tree? I’ve brought home a tree that’s a foot or so too tall for my ceiling height one too many times. In short, do your homework before you go (most living room ceilings are only eight or nine feet tall).

As you look for the right tree, keep in mind you’ll have to drag it back to the car, too. In general, this is actually easier than it sounds. A tree small enough to fit in your living room doesn’t weigh all that much. It helps to find a tree uphill of your starting point so gravity can work in your favor on the way back, and if it’s snowy, bringing a sled can help make the whole process easier.