Last year, I had a fiasco. My friends and I drove out to the Turnagain Pass area to cut down a Christmas tree. It looked perfect, and I was excited to set it up in our living room and decorate it. But ...

Normally, it's illegal to chop down a tree in a national forest. This month, however, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is all for it—provided you get yourself a Forest Service-issued permit first.