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asdf
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PostTue Nov 10, 2020 11:44 am 
I just learned you can cut a Christmas tree in the NF, with a permit. I thought this might be a good family experience now that the kids are pre-teens. Combine some orienteering, route-finding and reading the landscape. We sometimes go to a U-cut and sometimes just buy from a lot. Anyone ever done this and have advice?

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Randito
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PostTue Nov 10, 2020 12:01 pm 
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treeswarper
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PostTue Nov 10, 2020 12:32 pm 
Yup, in fact, in da olden days, our family used to take delight in "stealing" a tree off National Forest. My uncle even climbed a tree and topped it for us. Not to worry, that area burned up pretty good later. What kind of tree do you want? Unfortunately, many Noble Fir have grown up and suitable sized ones can be hard to find. Nobles also grow at higher elevations which makes them more difficult to get to if there is snow. Doug-fir are plentiful and can be found at lower elevations. When you get your permit, there will most likely be a sheet of do's and don'ts provided. If not, call a district office if you have any questions. I have friends who used to make it a bit of a pickanick in the woods and if we did not find the perfect tree, there was always a Christmas tree farm to stop at and get one. Nature does not always make perfect trees for Christmas. The picnic in the woods helps make for good memories. And, from the forestry angle, don't do what my uncle did and try to make it a clean cut--no branches left to grow and make a sad, sickly tree.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human末animals and aliens are great possibilities
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Chief Joseph
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PostTue Nov 10, 2020 2:17 pm 
Yes and like a firewood cutting permit, due to Covid, they are free. Verlot station has been closed, so I obtained one last spring from Darrington, and recently called and had another one sent in the mail, again free of charge.

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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Kim Brown
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PostTue Nov 10, 2020 4:43 pm 
Randito's links are what you need. Includes cutting location maps, pretty broad areas; (last time I cut, it was a smaller, specific area). $10. Other locals forests likely have the same deal. Go to their website, click on Permits, and a few more clicks here and there (they don't make it easy) and you'll see it.

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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Sculpin
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PostSat Nov 14, 2020 1:28 pm 
I used to do this. Just know that all the good trees near the roads will be gone, so give your team enough time to bushwhack around until you find something suitable.

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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meck
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PostSat Nov 14, 2020 4:01 pm 
My wife and I have cut our own tree twice now, its been a fun experience. To add to what has already been said: 1. I recommend not bothering looking for a Noble Fir. I know a couple of locations where they grow in the ONF non-wilderness zones near roads, but they take a good long time to grow back (from what I can tell) and seemed to me to be somewhat scarce (it'd be easy to wipe them out altogether if everyone targeted them). Of the 30 or so I've come across that were potentially of a good size (along old roads), none of them were particularly filled out (lots of bare trunk!). We've had good luck with the young douglas firs. Make sure you don't take a hemlock (needles drop after cutting very, very quickly). 2. I would recommend scouting a few locations out ahead of time so you know where to go (although with the snow already dumping obviously not as much of an option now). It took my wife and I a couple hours the first time to walk an area, noting potential trees, then coming back to cut one (we just made it back out to the car by nightfall). Abandoned FS road spurs off the main branches can be good locations in that there are often lots of trees of various sizes growing back over the road, or recently cut hillsides. They are usually level enough to find trees that have grown evenly on most sides, and walking back on the roads while carrying a tree is usually a lot easier than going back up and down a hillside. 3. Don't forget the normal winter hiking and vehicle gear (in case your vehicle gets stuck), map of the area, shovel (can be useful), rain/wet weather gear, a height/width reference, saw and clippers, and good work gloves. You will likely get some tree sap on your clothing & hands carrying the tree back to your automobile (I carried a tree ~0.75 miles back to a car in wet snowing conditions the first time). It might be a good idea to have a stove or other warm beverage waiting at the vehicle.

*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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treeswarper
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PostSun Nov 15, 2020 8:44 am 
Meck: Noble Fir are just fine. They grow at higher elevations so haven't really been in any danger of being over cut for Christmas trees. They were replanted in the logged, higher elevation clearcuts on the Gifford Pinchot NF and have grown so well, that they are now too big for Christmas trees. The GPNF has been actively selling bough contracts for bough cutting in those same plantations, but that is ending due to no more logging with replanting Nobles. The plantations have been used for boughs and the trees are now too big for that operation, also. There is an Oregon Field Guide ( I think that is the right name) episode about bough cutting and it was available on youtube. Oh, and bough cutting does not harm the trees. A certain amount of the lower limbs were sold and cut using contracts to manage the operations. It proved to be a money maker for the Forest Service. Just straightening out any misunderstanding that Noble Fir is rare and endangered. It isn't. It's just at high elevations where driving to it in the winter is problematic.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human末animals and aliens are great possibilities
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meck
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PostSun Nov 15, 2020 8:52 am 
Thanks for sorting that out treeswarper! Were the boughs used for wreaths etc.? At least in the Olys, it seemed to me that the noble firs were relatively limited in the areas that I could actually access in a reasonable time frame. There are only a few "higher elevation" (>3k) access roads that get anywhere near walkable ridge lines, and it appeared to me a lot of other cutters had already whacked the good ones (as noted by the stumps near other "stringy" nobles. I'm glad to hear they are more prevalent then I thought.

*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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treeswarper
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PostSun Nov 15, 2020 8:59 am 
I found it! I know one of the "stars" of this episode. Besides being planted in the blast zone, Nobles were planted in logged areas elsewhere on the forest.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human末animals and aliens are great possibilities
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BigBrunyon
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PostMon Nov 16, 2020 10:16 pm 
Jim Thomas used to just fell big trees and cut the tops off em.

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pcg
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PostMon Nov 16, 2020 10:50 pm 
We used to do this. The only thing that hasn稚 been mentionned is please bring a small shovel so you can remove enough snow to cut the tree at ground level, which you are supposed to do. Too many people ignore this rule and leave short stumps behind. And someone already said it, but it痴 worth repeating... beware of sap.

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