Given the mild winter we’ve had here in the PacNW, I’m thinking taking my son on a multi-day collecting trip at the end of February to the olympic peninsula. I’m wondering if anyone has collected in the area and has any tips or recommendations of spots?
Thankfully with the shutdown over they’re issuing permits again and I’ll be booking lodging soon, and there several places to stay around Forks with plenty of national forest near by, so this looks like a decent place to start, but before I book anything I thought I’d check with the Mirai members.
I don’t think you can collect trees from the Olympic National Forest.
If you go to https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/olympic/passes-permits/forestproducts it will explain what you can collect from this forest.
Every national forest is different, some species of trees are allowed where in another forest they are not.
Call the Forks district office to verify.
Good catch, @MtBakerBonsai . I was thinking about the coast because the mountains are likely covered in snow. Have any recommendations down in your area? Looks like the national forests along the Oregon coast allow for “transplant” collecting which is what I’ve my permits have been listed under before.
The coast on the Olympic pennisula where the sands of the beaches meet the trees of the forests will be National Forest, Wilderness, and most important Tribal lands.
Anywhere there are trees out there is a no go.
My collecting areas are still covered with a whole lot of snow and will be for quite a while.
Oregon looks goods, although there is many different types of land ownership there, state, federal, private…
Double-check your location before you collect.
Siuslaw National Forest looks promising. It does have some interesting boundaries.
Good luck and always practice good ethics when collecting.
Looking to any pics of your trip.
I have collected trees in the Gifford Pinchot national forest. The ranger station issues transplant permits. It is probably still too early for that area tho. I’m planning a trip to the Deschutes national forest in the spring to collect junipers. I know that they do release transplant permits over there as well.
