Permits
You must obtain a permit before removing any forest products from the Umpqua National Forest. The permit process enables the Forest Service to track demand for products, the amount of products removed from the Forest, and to protect resources. Some of the more common products we have available on forest are firewood, Christmas trees, mushrooms, greenery such as salal and beargrass, posts and poles for fencing, and live transplants.
Most product permits require a minimum payment of $20 or more. Product prices vary depending on the product's availability, amount purchased, and market value.
Free use permits are also available most forest products, including firewood and mushrooms. These permits are issued for personal use in non-commercial amounts.
How to Request a Permit
All permits, with the exception of free use mushrooms, cones or firewood, need to be obtained at an Umpqua National Forest office. Please call ahead to ensure that the office nearest you is open.
Special Forest Product Permits
Beargrass is harvested for multiple uses, including basket making and floral arrangements. The white flowers, which grow on a stalk up to six feet tall, are a delicacy for deer and elk.
Harvesting beargrass on the Umpqua National Forest is allowed by commercial permit only. Permits cost $50 per person per week for 1,000 pounds of beargrass.
To obtain a permit visit an Umpqua National Forest office. please call ahead to ensure that the office nearest you is open.
Additional Information
- No harvesting of beargrass is permitted between March 1 and September 30 due to the harmful effects during blooming season. Beargrass also should not be harvested within 150’ of riparian areas.
- Beargrass is found on well drained soils at elevations up to 5,500 feet. Harvest areas are clearly designated on a map.
- Only the leaves of beargrass may be harvested. Leaves should be cut at the base of the plant with a sharp knife, after which they can easily be wrapped in bundles for shipment. The roots of the plant should be left undisturbed so that new leaves will grow.
Cutting Christmas trees is one of many benefits and uses of our National Forests. Create new holiday traditions and bring a story by harvesting a tree from the Umpqua National Forest.
Where Can I Obtain a Christmas Tree Permit?
Permits can be purchased online at Recreation.gov, as well as through local vendors. Permits cost $5 per tree, and families can obtain permits for up to five trees. Fourth-grade students with Every Kid Outdoors passes can obtain one free Christmas tree with their pass. More information about Christmas tree permits can be found at Recreation.gov.
Christmas Tree Harvest Maps
Make sure to carry your printed map while cutting and hauling your Christmas tree.
- Cottage Grove Ranger District
- Diamond Lake Ranger District
- North Umpqua Ranger District
- Tiller Ranger District
Be aware that some areas may be closed due to recent wildfires. Visit our Alerts & Notices page to view closure maps and associated Forest Orders.
Conifer cones are collected for several purposes. After cones disperse their seeds naturally, they can be collected for decorative uses such as wreaths and potpourris. Cones permits can be sold for personal use or for commercial resale.
Commercial permits will be sold to individuals for dry cones or who wish to collect over one bushel for personal use. The minimum purchase price of a permit is $20. Free use permits allow the permittee to gather cones for personal use only. They generally authorize the permittee to harvest 20 sugar pinecones and 10 bushels of other species and will only be given for dry cones used for decorating. Free use cone permits cannot be resold.
Dry cones are defined as cones in which the seed has already disseminated from the cone. Dry cones may only be gathered from the ground. No climbing of trees is permitted.
Commercial permits must be obtained in person, please call ahead to ensure that the office nearest you is open. For free use permits email sm.fs.umpquapermit@usda.gov to request a permit.
On the Umpqua National Forest, no permit is needed to harvest berries except for huckleberries, that can be consumed incidentally on forest. Huckleberries are culturally significant to the local Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians. Since 2006, Umpqua National Forest has worked with the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians to classify 9,341 acres as a Special Interest Area (SIA). This SIA allows the Forest Service to propose projects in the future that focus on maintaining and enhancing huckleberry habitat for the traditional, historic, and present-day use of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians.
If you have a permit for huckleberries, it is your responsibility to know where you are allowed to harvest berries on the landscape.
Greenery is commonly used for seasonal decorations, flower arrangements, ceremonies, and fragrances. Boughs are often harvested from true fir, cedar, pine, mountain hemlock, and Douglas-fir trees.
Prices for boughs permits vary. The minimum cost of a commercial permit is $40 per ton for most species, including Incense Cedar without bloom. The minimum cost of a commercial permit for Incense Cedar with bloom is $60 per ton.
On the Umpqua National Forest, you may also gather 20 pounds (two large armloads) of greenery per family for your personal use without a permit. These should be trimmed from the bottom third of the tree.
Harvest season for Christmas decorations is September through the first week in December. For other uses, boughs may be harvested at any time except shortly after new growth takes place in the spring. In order to maintain tree growth and vigor, the harvester will be required to leave a portion of the foliage intact and to have adequate pruning tools.
To obtain a permit visit an Umpqua National Forest office. Please call ahead to ensure that the office nearest you is open.
On the Umpqua National Forest, households can cut their own firewood to bring home with them. Households can cut up to six cords of wood per calendar year. Firewood is free of charge, but a permit is required to cut.
Firewood availability is determined on an individual district basis. Individual firewood area maps are required with every permit. Firewood comes from slash left from timber sales. The amount of slash available varies from year to year depending on the amount of timber sale activity and the demand for chips. Chainsaws and splitting mauls are used most often to cut firewood.
Chainsaw use may be limited in the summer by Industrial Fire Precautions, so please check the level in the alerts bar at the top of this page, before cutting. Additionally, some communities restrict firewood use during times of poor air quality, so please check your local air quality agency accordingly.
District Firewood Information
To request a firewood permit, please email sm.fs.umpquapermit@usda.gov with the following information:
- Your full name
- Your phone number
- Your driver's license number
- Your home address
- How many cords of wood you are requesting
- Which ranger district you want a permit for
You can also request a permit by calling the forest office for which you want a permit.
Incidental Firewood Use
Campers and hunters are not required to have a woodcutting permit if the wood is used at their campsite on the Umpqua National Forest. Firewood for this purpose is limited to:
- Dead and down forest litter.
- Material less than 16 inches in diameter.
- Cutting of any standing live tree or any dead standing snag is strictly prohibited.
The amount to be hauled for incidental use at any one time is one-quarter of a cord.
Many native plants and shrubs are popular in both floral arrangements and home gardens. Among the most widely used native plants are salal, evergreen huckleberry, swordfern, and pinemat manzanita.
On the Umpqua National Forest, greenery is sold year-round. Salal permits are $20 per person per week for 400 pounds. Transplant permits cost, at minimum, $20. Total cost varies by plant size. Free use transplant permits are also available, which allow you to harvest up to 50 live plants for personal use. To avoid shock, transplants should be harvested after terminal buds have hardened in late fall or winter. Remember, harvesting rare, threatened, or endangered plants is illegal.
Commercial permits must be obtained in person, please call ahead to ensure that the office nearest you is open. For free use permits email sm.fs.umpquapermit@usda.gov to request a permit.
The Umpqua National Forest, in conjunction with the Deschutes, Willamette, and Fremont-Winema National Forests, has entered into a four-forest agreement on all mushroom permits. Mushroom permits issued on one forest allows picking on all four forests for all species except matsutake mushrooms.
- Free-use mushroom permits are valid for any 10 days in the calendar year. They allow the permittee to harvest up to two gallons per day. Additionally, on the Umpqua National Forest only, you can obtain a free use matsutake permits.
- Commercial mushroom permits allow permittees to harvest an unlimited quantity of mushrooms and to sell them commercially. Commercial mushroom permits cost $20 for ten days or $100 for an annual permit.
In addition to the four-forest mushroom permits, the Umpqua National Forest also offers free-use matsutake permits. These permits allow permittees to harvest 15 mushrooms a day for up to 10 days of matsutake mushrooms on the Umpqua National Forest only.
For commercial permits, please call ahead to ensure that the office nearest you is open. For free-use permits email sm.fs.umpquapermit@usda.gov to request a permit with the following information:
- Your full name
- Your phone number
- Your address
- Your driver's license number
- Which type of mushroom permit you want
Additional Information
- Many mushrooms are edible and delicious; many others are poisonous and fatal. It is critically important to know the difference. Always pick with a knowledgeable partner.
- Springtime is best for morels and oyster mushrooms. Fall is the time for chanterelles, king bolete, matsutake, and puffballs.
- Commercial picking is prohibited in wilderness areas, campgrounds, housing areas, special permittee areas, such as Diamond Lake and Lemolo Lake lodge areas, Pacific Power facilities, and other developed areas.
Posts and poles can be used for fences, corrals, flag poles, fishing boat outriggers, playhouses, and jungle gyms. Western red cedar and other cedars are popular because of their natural resistance to decay. Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and other softwood species with straight trunks can also be used, and will last a long time when treated with preservatives.
On the Umpqua National Forest, poles are sold on a lineal foot basis. Poles can be any length. For slash and lodgepole pine poles, the large end can be no more than 8 inches in diameter. For all other species, the large end can be no more than 6 inches in diameter. All material except lodgepole pine over 6” diameter on the large end is sold commercially.
Posts are sold on a piece basis. Maximum post size is 22 inches in circumference and 8 feet in length.
Poles and posts must be harvested from designated areas only.
To obtain a permit visit an Umpqua National Forest office. Please call ahead to ensure that the office nearest you is open.
Prince’s pine grows in cool, moist areas and forms a carpet-like layer of vegetation over small areas. It is commercially harvested in the Pacific Northwest to flavor cola and root beer. Native Americans also use it as a medicinal tea.
The minimum purchase of a permit is $20. May through September is usually the best season for harvesting Prince’s pine. When harvesting, snap the plant off with a quick twist of the wrist. Leave the rhizome intact so that the plant can regenerate and be harvested again in three to five years.
To obtain a permit visit an Umpqua National Forest office. Please call ahead to ensure that the office nearest you is open.
Special Use Permits
A special use permit is required when you are asking for special privileges on National Forest land. Examples include gatherings of 75 people or more, operating a business, using the forest for financial gain, and commercial filming. To apply for a special use permit or to learn more, please email SM.FS.ump_su@usda.gov.
What is a Special Use Authorization?
A Special Use Authorization is a permit, term permit, temporary permit, lease, or easement or other written instrument that grants rights or privileges of occupancy and use subject to specified terms and conditions on National Forest land. The occupancy and use may be for a one-day event such as a wedding or bicycle race, or for up to 40 years such as a ski resort permit. Our policy is to manage special uses on National Forest lands in a manner that protects natural resource values, public health and safety, and is consistent with the Forest land and resource management plans.
When Do I Need an Authorization?
- If you will need to occupy, use or build in National Forest Service (NFS) land for personal or business purposes, whether the duration is temporary or long term.
- If there is a fee being charged or if income is derived from the use.
- If an activity on NFS land involves individuals or organizations with 75 or more participants or spectators.
Examples of Special Uses Requiring an Authorization
- Recreation events
- Outfitters and guides
- Commercial filming and photography
- Commercial non-recreational (transportation systems, utilities systems, facilities)
- Recreation residences
Is my Proposal Appropriate?
- Your request must be consistent with federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and special orders that apply to the national forests.
- Your request must be consistent with the Forest Plan that established standards and guidelines for management of the land where the activity will take place. A copy of the Forest Plan is available at the Supervisor's Office.
- Your request must not endanger public health or safety.
- Your request must not require exclusive or perpetual use or occupancy.
- Your request cannot conflict or interfere with administrative use by the Forest Service, other authorized existing uses, or uses of adjacent nonfederal lands.
- The application must not owe any fees to the Forest Service from a prior special-use authorization.
- No gambling or providing of sexually-oriented commercial services can be authorized on NFS land, even if permitted under state law.
- No military or paramilitary training or exercises can be authorized on NFS land, unless it is federally funded.
- No disposal of solid waste or storage or disposal of radioactive or other hazardous substances can be authorized on NFS land.