Overview
Firewood is standing or down dead wood. You must have a permit to cut firewood in Pennsylvania state forests.
Approved firewood-related activities:
- Gathering dead and down wood for building fires on state forest land.
- You may gather edible wild plants for personal use. Unless they are listed as threatened, endangered, rare, or vulnerable.
How to Apply for a Pennsylvania State Forest Firewood Cutting Permit
You must have a permit to cut firewood in Pennsylvania State Forests.
- The cost is $20.00 per cord. Permits are issued for a maximum of 2 cords per permit, up to 5 cords per household per year. Permits are issued for a 4-week period and are void if not used by the expiration date.
- Firewood cutters must follow the State Forest Rules and the permit.
- Check the area for availability before getting a permit.
- The permit can only be used by the person to whom it is issued and that person must be available at all times while cutting.
For a permit, contact the appropriate state forest district office. See a map of Pennsylvania's State Forest Districts (PDF).
Cutting Information
Firewood is standing or down dead wood. You must have a permit to cut down any firewood in Pennsylvania State Parks and Forests.
- Gathering dead and down wood for building fires on state forest land.
- You may gather edible wild plants for personal use. Unless they are listed as threatened, endangered, rare, or vulnerable.
DCNR prohibits the following activities without written permission.
- Firewood is for personal use only and may not be resold.
- You are not allowed to remove fuel wood using any method other than hand carrying or a wheelbarrow.
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Normal cutting season is April 1 to the day before rifle bear season. Select areas are open January through March also. But, first check for firewood and access (may be limited due to snow).
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Cutting, picking, digging, damaging, or removing (in whole or in part) a living or dead plant, vine, shrub, tree, or flower. This includes fungus, lichen, and moss.
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Removing rocks, shale, sand, clay, soil, or other mineral products.
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Removing peat, bark, mulch, pine straw, or other natural resources.
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Planting a tree, shrub, or plant.
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Releasing an animal into a state forest.
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You are not allowed to block drainage ditches, pipes, and other structures with tops and slash.
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Stump height of cut trees may not exceed the diameter of the stump or 12 inches, whichever is smaller.
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All tops and slash must be removed 25 feet from streams, roads, trails, and boundaries.
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Obstructing a gate, road, trail, path, access way or road turnaround is prohibited.
- Denser, heavier woods contain more heat than lighter woods, for a given volume.
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Wood is never completely dry. Wood dried to the normal air-dried state has a 20 percent moisture content .
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The best time to cut firewood is in winter and early spring, before leaf-out. The moisture content is lowest then.
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Ashes from burnt wood are alkaline. They can amend garden and lawn soils by raising the pH of acidic soils. One cord of heavier fuelwood will produce about 60 pounds.
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Wood should be dried as much as possible before burning (6 to 12 months). Air-dried wood has 20-25 percent more heat than green wood. Less heat is lost to drying out moisture when it burns.
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A cord of air-dried hardwood equals the heat of about 1 ton of coal, 230 gallons of fuel oil, or 28,000 cubic feet of natural gas.
Contact us
DCNR Bureau of Forestry
Rachel Carson State Office Building, 6th Floor
P.O. Box 8552
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8552