A Christmas tree permit on the Lolo National Forest costs $5 this year. That's the same price printed on last year's brochure, and you can carry up to three permits per person. The money is easy. The harder part is the calendar. The ranger station on Clayton Street is open five hours a day, four days a week. The permit season opens with more than two weeks of deer and elk season still to go. The weekends after that are already filling up with holiday bazaars from Plains to Lonepine.
Once you see how those three schedules overlap, choosing your tree day gets a lot simpler.
Permits went on sale this morning
Lolo National Forest permits went on sale online today, Thursday, Nov. 12, at 10 a.m. Eastern. Here in Plains that was 8 a.m. Mountain. The Recreation.gov permit page lists the cutting season as Friday, Nov. 13, through Thursday, Dec. 31, 2026.
Buying online adds a $2.50 transaction fee to each $5 permit. You'll need a Recreation.gov account, and you'll need to print the permit and display it on your dashboard while you're out cutting. If you have a fourth grader at home, the Forest Service permit page says a child with an Every Kid Outdoors pass gets one free permit. You can enter the pass at checkout online or bring it to a Lolo National Forest office. Passes are issued through everykidoutdoors.gov, so get it sorted before you head to the station.
The online route works any hour, including weekends. That matters more in Plains than you might expect.
The office on Clayton Street keeps a four-day week
The Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger Station at 408 Clayton sells permits in person. According to its Forest Service office listing, it's open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It's closed on federal holidays. Compare that with the Ninemile station in Huson, which is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
In practice, there's no counter service on Tuesdays, Saturdays or Sundays. Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 26, falls inside the first full month of the season, so that week has one less open day. The Forest Service's own brochure asks people to call ahead to make sure the office is open and someone is there to sell permits that day. The number is 406-826-3821.
If you're planning to cut on a Saturday and want to pay cash at the counter, you'll need to stop in by Friday at 3 p.m. Otherwise, plan on buying online.
Here's how the season lays out week by week:
| Week | Station open for permits | General deer/elk season | Holiday events in and near Plains |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 12–15 | Thu, Fri | Open | Online sales open Nov. 12; cutting opens Nov. 13 |
| Nov. 16–22 | Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri | Open | Operation Christmas Child week at Plains Bible Chapel; Plains-Paradise Senior Center bazaar Nov. 21 |
| Nov. 23–29 | Mon, Wed, Fri; closed Thanksgiving | Open, last day Nov. 29 | Bazaar at the MT West Dentist park, Plains, Nov. 28 |
| Nov. 30–Dec. 6 | Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri | Closed | Thompson Falls High School and Sanders County Fairgrounds pavilion bazaars Dec. 5 |
| Dec. 7–13 | Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri | Closed | Peacefield Farm Dec. 11–12; Lonepine Community Hall Dec. 12 |
| Dec. 14–31 | Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, minus federal holidays | Closed | Cutting season ends Dec. 31 |
Seventeen days of overlap with deer and elk season
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks lists the 2026 general deer and elk season as Oct. 24 through Nov. 29. Tree season opens Nov. 13. Count from Nov. 13 through Nov. 29 and you get 17 days when both seasons are open. The whole cutting season runs 49 days, so about a third of it overlaps with hunting, and that third includes three of the seven full weekends.
The overlap shapes the trip more than any permit rule does. The national forest land within reach of Plains is the same ground hunters are working during the final weekends of the general season, Thanksgiving weekend included. Out there, bright clothing and staying visible near a truck at a pullout are just good sense. They aren't permit rules.
From Monday, Nov. 30, the general season is closed, and the station is back to its full four-day week. The weeks from then through Dec. 31 make up the larger share of the cutting season. They're also the weeks with the most competition for your Saturdays.
The rules that matter once you're in the trees
The Lolo's rules are the same for every district. Several of them shape where you'll end up in the hills around Plains. The full list is on the Forest Service permit page, and these are the ones that come up most:
- Size: 12 feet maximum. Leave a stump no taller than 6 inches and no wider than 6 inches in diameter.
- Take the whole tree. Cutting just the top off is prohibited. If there's snow on the ground, clear it from around the stump so you can measure the stump and tree height accurately.
- Distance: Don't cut trees visible from major roads, within 150 feet of streams or creeks, or in other well-used areas.
- Off-limits ground: Private land, wilderness, designated recreation sites, previously thinned areas, tree plantations, active timber sales, and areas planted with new trees.
- Travel: Follow the Motor Vehicle Use Map. It's free at Forest Service offices and also available for phones through the Avenza app.
The stream rule matters more around here than it might elsewhere. Plains sits in a river valley, and many of the side roads off Highway 200 follow creeks up their drainages. A tree that looks perfect from the truck may be too close to the water or too visible from the road. Which stands are open this year and which are being worked is a fair question to ask at the Clayton Street counter when you pick up your permit.
The Forest Service also says cutting from dense, overcrowded stands can help the forest, because the remaining trees grow faster with more room. A tree pulled from a thicket is often a little lopsided. Turn the flat side toward the wall.
The November 2025 brochure suggested packing a measuring tape, handsaw, gloves, boots, a tarp and rope. It also warned that forest roads may not be plowed. Carry the tree out of the woods instead of dragging it, since dragging rubs off needles and bark. Once you're home, trim a fresh, flat cut off the bottom of the trunk and set it in a stand with a water reservoir that you keep full. The brochure notes that a dry tree can burn in 15 seconds.
This is general information, not legal advice. Permit terms are set by the Forest Service, so check the current rules with the ranger station before you cut.
Weekends that already have plans
The tree trip has company on the calendar. The Sanders County Ledger's holiday bazaar roundup lists three dates in Plains between now and mid-December.
Saturday, Nov. 21. The Plains-Paradise Senior Center holds a bazaar from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bazaars at Whitepine Grange and Noxon School run the same day and hours. The same week, the Sanders County events calendar lists Operation Christmas Child collection activity at Plains Bible Chapel from Nov. 17 to 23, with different start times on different days. Check the listing for the day you plan to drop off a box.
Saturday, Nov. 28. The Ledger lists a bazaar at the MT West Dentist park in Plains from 2 to 6 p.m. That's the last Saturday of the general deer and elk season. An afternoon start leaves the morning free.
Saturday, Dec. 5. Thompson Falls High School holds its bazaar from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the Sanders County Fairgrounds pavilion runs one from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is the first Saturday after hunting season, and the first weekend with no bazaar in Plains itself.
Friday and Saturday, Dec. 11–12. Peacefield Farm outside Plains is listed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. KPAX's Montana Ag Network profile in January told the farm's story. Kimber Lucier and her husband, Mark, moved back to Sanders County in 2023 to buy the farm from her mother, Paula. Kimber told KPAX that her mother ran it as a lavender farm for more than 20 years and that it was "one of the first commercial lavender farms in Montana." The Luciers have since added cows, goats, eggs and honey. Mark is a master beekeeper, and Kimber makes her products with the farm's honey, according to KPAX. Lonepine Community Hall follows on Saturday, Dec. 12, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Put the table and these dates together and some open stretches show up. The weekend of Dec. 5–6 has bazaars in Thompson Falls but none in Plains, and hunting season will be over. Sunday the 6th is clear. Mid-December has no bazaars on this list after Dec. 12, and the station keeps its four-day schedule apart from federal holidays. Cutting is allowed until Dec. 31. If you wait until the 19th or 20th, you'll have the most room on the calendar, though the brochure's warning about unplowed forest roads applies all season.
Deb has been walking Sanders County ground since 1998, and she's always glad to talk about the drainages around Plains, whether you're after a tree this December or picturing acreage of your own. Contact Deborah Warren for a local market consult. Or just call and swap notes on where the season is shaping up.
