Cut the Perfect Christmas Tree in Butte County

Key Details

• Per­mit Pur­chas­ing: Mail-in or In-Per­son (at Butte Coun­ty spots like Chico True Val­ue Hardware)
• Cost & Lim­it: $10 per tree; lim­it two (2) per household
• Cut­ting Dates: Pur­chase and use through Dec. 24; mail-in requests must be received by the first week of December
• Impor­tant note: Plumas per­mits are NOT valid on Lassen Nation­al Forest

You can get a per­mit for cut­ting your tree in Lassen Nation­al Forest (which includes Butte Mead­ows) by mail or in-per­son. See all the details here.

IN-PER­SON (Cash-only)

You can pur­chase the tree per­mit in-per­son at one of the fol­low­ing area vendors:

• True Val­ue Hard­ware, 936 Man­grove Ave., Chico
• Butte Mead­ows Resort, 7473 Hum­boldt Rd, For­est Ranch
• Zavater­ro’s Gro­cery, 15509 Nopel Ave., For­est Ranch

MAIL-IN

Send your request for a Christ­mas tree per­mit along with a check for $10.00 per tree to one of the fol­low­ing locations:

• Almanor Ranger Dis­trict, Christ­mas Tree Per­mit, PO Box 767, Chester, CA 96020
• Eagle Lake Ranger Dis­trict, Christ­mas Tree Per­mit, 477 – 050 Eagle Lake Road, Susanville, CA 96130
• Hat Creek Ranger Dis­trict, Christ­mas Tree Per­mit, PO Box 220, Fall Riv­er Mills, CA 96028
• LNF Supervisor’s Office, Christ­mas Tree Per­mit, 2550 River­side Dri­ve, Susanville, CA 96130

Key Details

• Per­mit Pur­chas­ing: Online only
• Cost & Lim­it: $10 (plus $2.50 fee) per tree; lim­it two (2) per household
• Cut­ting Dates: Novem­ber 1 — Decem­ber 31
• Impor­tant note: Lassen per­mits are NOT valid on Plumas Nation­al Forest

Per­mits are required to cut your own tree in the Plumas Nation­al For­est, and they must be pur­chased online.

• Trees may be cut from Nov. 1‑Dec. 31
• Per­mits include a map of tree cut­ting areas as well as safe­ty infor­ma­tion and help­ful tips. please read the instruc­tions on your per­mit care­ful­ly; there are no refunds.
  • Christ­mas Tree Cut­ting Map Side 1
  • Christ­mas Tree Cut­ting Map Side 2

Get more infor­ma­tion about plan­ning your vis­it here.

Stew­ard­ship & Safe­ty: What to Know Before You Go

Plan­ning ahead is essen­tial for a safe and suc­cess­ful trip.

• Required Map: The Christ­mas tree cut­ting map is required with the per­mit and should be acces­si­ble on your mobile device or in your pos­ses­sion when cut­ting. Cut­ting area maps can be down­loaded via Recre​ation​.gov or the Aven­za Map app (Map 1, Map 2).
• Fire Clo­sures: Cut­ting is pro­hib­it­ed in all Fire Clo­sure Areas and on pri­vate prop­er­ty, Wilder­ness, and Scenic Riv­er areas. Check the Plumas Nation­al For­est web­site for cur­rent clo­sure maps.
• Burned Areas: Vis­i­tors should be alert in burned areas and watch out for haz­ard trees, down trees, and falling rocks.
• Plan Ahead: Cut­ting areas may be quick­ly lim­it­ed by snow, so plan to get your tree ear­ly. Cell phone cov­er­age may be scarce. Let some­one know where you are going, leave them a map and a descrip­tion of your vehicle.
• Per­mit Rules: The per­mit hold­er must be present dur­ing cut­ting and trans­port , and you must write the month and day of cut­ting on your permit.

Select­ing Your Tree

• Trees less than 6 inch­es diam­e­ter (at ground lev­el) may be cut.
• Stump heights should be less than 12 inch­es tall, with no live branch­es remain­ing on the stump.
• If snow is on the ground, remove it to accu­rate­ly mea­sure the stump and tree height.