Pines at Lake Tahoe. Christmas tree permits for BLM go on sale Monday. The Forest Service has permits on sale now.
As part of a new program the Bureau of Land Management is providing every fourth-grader with a free Christmas tree cutting permit.
The Carson City District Bureau of Land Management started issuing Christmas tree cutting permits for the Pine Nuts Monday. The permits allow cutting a piñon pine or juniper tree on designated BLM lands primarily in the Pinenut Mountains between Carson City and Yerington, the Clan Alpine and Desatoya mountains east of Fallon, and the Excelsior Mountains southeast of Hawthorne. Maps and directions are available with permit purchase. The cost per permit is $5.
A valid school identification card will be required to obtain a free Christmas tree permit from any of the vendors that sell BLM permits. Only one free permit per child will be allowed.
Increasing the fee to $10 allows $5 to remain in the district to support administrative and visitor services for the Christmas tree permit program, including maps, signage and a Forest Service presence on major cutting days.
The Forest Service asks that the maximum stump left behind is no taller than six inches above bare soil with no live branches left on the stump.
Christmas tree permits are limited on the Carson Ranger District and sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.
For more information visit: https://www.everykidinapark.gov.