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EXPLORE: Cut Your Own Christmas Tree

By Beacon Staff

It’s open season on the Flathead National Forest – for Christmas trees. The U.S. Forest Service in Kalispell announced that permits are available for area residents to cut their own Christmas tree.

Permits cost $5 and can be purchased from Forest Service offices in Kalispell, Hungry Horse, Bigfork or from a variety of vendors across the Flathead Valley.

Be sure to bring cash, as the Forest Service won’t accept check or credit.

Do not take trees from campgrounds or other developed areas, plantations, previously thinned stands and areas posted closed to Christmas tree cutting.

Trees must be four inches in diameter or less at the stump.

The stump should be cut as close to the ground as possible.

Also, when leaving the forest, be sure to affix your permit to the base of the tree.

There is a maximum of two permits per household.

More Information

For the Tally Lake Ranger District, call (406) 758-5204.

For the Hungry Horse-Glacier View and Spotted Bear Ranger districts, call (406) 387-3800.

And for the Swan Lake Ranger District, call (406) 837-7500.