When it comes to finding the perfect Christmas tree, William Lyon has it down to a science.
Every year, Lyon downloads official maps of U.S. Forest Service roads — Apple and Google maps never have them all — and consults satellite imagery, searching for green groves that seem decently accessible and haven’t been scorched by fire.
Then, after obtaining a U.S. Forest Service Christmas tree permit, Lyon and his wife, Amelia, trek to a national forest near their home in Missoula, Mont., to find a wild evergreen.
It’s a tradition that the Forest Service has encouraged nationwide for decades — including in Northern and Central California. Forest officials say it helps to reduce wildfire risk, supports biodiversity and generates revenue. Every year, Americans chop down hundreds of thousands of Christmas trees — often for twenty bucks or less.
“You’re absolutely helping [the Forest Service] achieve their forest management goals,” said Janelle Smith, a public affairs specialist for the USFS and Recreation.gov. “Some of their forest management goals are also that people care about those places, and that they want to conserve them — that they have good experiences.”
The tree permits not only send families on expeditions that connect them with their local forests (and leave them with a festive memento guaranteed to leave needles all over the living room), they also enlist thousands of volunteers to help complete much-needed forest thinning.
In 2023, the Forest Service sold permits for more than 300,000 Christmas trees, Smith said. Roughly 3 in 10 were sold at ranger stations across the country; the rest were purchased through Recreation.gov, a centralized site used by more than a dozen federal agencies allowing Americans to easily access public lands in the great outdoors.
Every year, rangers in many of America’s 150-plus national forests designate areas open to Christmas tree taking. These regions often are in dense sections of forests — sometimes along tricky winding roads — where young conifers have taken over the forest floor.
The needly youngsters that dominate the forest can provide ready fuel for wildfire, and they often prevent other types of trees and plants from growing, including staples in the diets of local wildlife. Flower species are often unable to sprout with the young trees blocking sunlight, which leaves little nectar for essential pollinators.
“It’s possible, if not likely, that removing some of these small young trees — the sort of trees that we put in our house as Christmas trees — will have significant benefits to forest health, to wildlife,” said James Johnston, an assistant research professor at the University of Oregon who studies restoration forestry.
Yet, with 300 billion trees in the country and the Forest Service planting millions each year, the few hundred thousand that people cut down each year probably won’t have a big effect on the environment or wildfires at large, Johnston said.
“The biggest effect of Christmas tree harvest on National Forest land is that it gives you a chance to get out in nature with friends and family and enjoy some beautiful scenery,” he said. “It’s great for your physical and mental health — as long as you can have some grace with your family members when you’re tying the tree to the top of the car.”
Unfortunately for Southern Californians, neither the Angeles, Los Padres, Cleveland nor San Bernardino national forests offer Christmas tree cutting permits.
For those Angelenos who desire a natural Christmas tree cutting experience, however, Sequoia National Forest does offer permits — just don’t accidentally cut a baby giant sequoia.
The Christmas tree cutting program began in the 1950s, when rangers began noticing that people were sneaking into national forests and cutting trees — sometimes even selling them to the public.
When the illegal cuttings left some areas too thinned out, Colorado’s San Isabel National Forest decided to formalize the process with permits. The practice caught on around the country.
Today, Forest Service officials say the program offers a Christmas tree adventure like no other.
To prepare, the Forest Service asks participants to follow all safety guidelines for enjoying the National Forest system and cutting their own tree — navigating icy roads and elevation gain, dipping in and out of cell service and wielding a saw deep in Department of Agriculture backcountry can be a bit more intense than grabbing a plastic tree at Target.
Smith has watched plenty of cars slip and slide on icy Forest Service roads while searching for trees. Once, she had to put her own Christmas tree hunt on hold to help pull a car out of a ditch.
Smith said permit holders should make sure they have tire chains if traveling in cold conditions, equipment to secure the tree to their vehicle, and — importantly — a saw.
“I read one story where … they hiked for an hour and a half, and they’re like, ‘OK, let’s cut the tree down’ — and nobody had a saw,” Smith said, laughing as she recalled a (positive) review one permit holder left on Recreation.gov. “So they had to trek back and start all over again.”
(Lyon admitted to making the same mistake one year, but luckily he found an ax in the car to chop the tree down the good old fashioned way.)
“Having people comment on their first experience going out and cutting a tree is really sometimes comical and just always really touching,” Smith said. “Because they discover something they didn’t realize they could do. They’ve gotten their family together, and they were able to go out and have this amazing experience.”
For Lyon, who often camps and hikes in the forests during the warmer months, it’s a way to enjoy the nearby wilderness during the snowy season. The couple makes a point to venture a bit farther out and explore new areas.
“My wife and I do it together every year,” he said. “She always likes to pick out the perfect one that we usually find a little trek away. So, it ends up being a fun day out in the woods.”
The Forest Service says the connection people foster with their woodlands along the way is all by design.
“When you care for something, you want to take care of that something,” Smith said. “When you venture into your local forest — or any public lands, really — and you connect with it in a way that creates these kinds of lifetime memories, that’s a place you want to see protected. That’s a place you want to be able to take your kids and grandkids and friends for generations.”
In her early years with the Forest Service, Smith greeted permit holders at Pike National Forest in Colorado, alongside Smokey the Bear, who handed kids candy canes. Now, she brings her own kid to her local national forest to experience the program.
“It’s just become this lifetime memory for us, and a tradition that we really treasure,” she said.