Christmas tree permits available

It’s always a wonderful time of year in North Idaho, and it gets even better as it comes time to finding the perfect Christmas tree. Tree permits are sold for $5 each at any of the U.S. Forest Service offices, except the Forest Nursery, and at Bureau of Land Management offices. For more information, including office hours and locations, please visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/ipnf or https://www.blm.gov/office/coeur-dalene-district-office.

Free tree permits are available to fourth grade students through the Every Kid Outdoors program; along with free access to more than 2,000 other federal recreation areas. The Every Kid Outdoors program encourages fourth graders to explore, learn, and recreate in spectacular settings, including national parks, wildlife refuges, marine sanctuaries, and forests. To obtain the free pass and/or tree permit, fourth-grade students visit the Every Kid Outdoors website to participate in a short educational activity, and download a voucher. The student can bring the voucher to a Forest Service office to exchange it for a pass and permit.

The Every Kid Outdoors Program was established by Congress in 2019. It replaces the Every Kid in a Park Program which was launched in 2015. It is an interagency collaboration between the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and U.S. Forest Service.