The U.S. Forest Service is reminding huckleberry pickers that a free permit — available only online — is required in the 1.3-million-acre Gifford Pinchot National Forest and that portions of the forest are closed to all berry removal.
The address for the free permit is https://gp.fs2c.usda.gov/gp. The permit allows for a gallon of berries per day and three gallons per year.
Pickers need to print their permit or save it to a mobile device, along with a map of locations open to free-use berry collection. Personal-use permit pickers need to record their harvest on the permit sheet when collecting berries.
Huckleberries are found throughout the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which straddle the crest of the Cascade Mountains from the Columbia River to Mount Rainier National Park.
However, closed to berry removal are:
- The 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
- The northern portion of the Sawtooth Berry Fields, which is reserved for members of the Yakama Nation under a the 1932 Handshake Agreement between the Forest Service and tribe. Signs along GPNF road No. 24 near Surprise Lakes show the area reserved for the tribe.
- The Indian Heaven, Mount Adams, Goat Rocks, Trapper Creek, Glacier View and Tatoosh wilderness, areas although berries may be picked and consumed while in the six wildernesses.
Commercial berry permits will be available beginning Aug.12 at service windows at the ranger district offices in Amboy, Trout Lake and Randle.
Commercial permits cost $60 for 14 consecutive days and up to 40 gallons or $105 for up to 70 gallons for the season.
For more details regarding commercial berry permits go online to www.fs.usda.gov/main/giffordpinchot/passes-permits/forestproducts.
