Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Fuelwood Season Opens May 1, Free Permits Available

The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest's annual fuelwood harvesting season opens May 1 and runs through Nov. 30. Free personal-use permits, capped at 10 cords per household per year, will be available at local ranger district offices and through a variety of local vendors. The U.S. Forest Service issued the reminder from Baker City on March 20.

For Union County residents, the closest pickup points include the La Grande Forest Service office at 1109 K Ave., reachable at 541-963-1017, and local vendors including Hometown Hardware in Union at 541-562-5472 and Island City Market and Deli at 541-963-7140. Local vendors may charge a processing fee of up to $2 per transaction, though the permits themselves carry no charge. The Wallowa-Whitman administrative office in Joseph, at 201 E. Second St., can be reached at 541-426-5546. Contact your local district office to confirm permit availability and vendor locations, as it may vary by district.

Annual fuelwood guidelines are established through a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) decision that determines when woodcutting can occur. One consideration is limited early-season access due to snow or wet ground conditions, which increase the risk of off-road resource damage. The May 1 start date also reflects a practical ecological concern: larch, a highly sought-after deciduous conifer, loses its needles each fall, making the trees appear dead to an unsuspecting woodcutter when they are in fact alive and off limits for cutting; in spring, they begin to bud and regrow their needles, making it easier for woodcutters to identify them as live trees.

Visitors should also be aware that high fire danger in the summer or early snowfall in the fall may limit access to firewood and affect the ability to use permits. Permits are non-refundable and non-transferable. Maps showing where fuelwood can be gathered will be provided with the permit or accessible online. Not all lands on the National Forest are open to fuelwood cutting; consult the fuelwood maps to be sure cutting is permitted in a given area.

Commercial-use fuelwood permits are also available at local ranger district offices at $10 per cord, with a minimum purchase of two cords; commercial permits are valid for two weeks from the date of issuance.

Visit fs.usda.gov to find information about fire precaution levels and public use restrictions, or call the hotline at 541-523-1234. The scale of forest access at stake for the county is significant: according to the Union County Sheriff's Office, nearly half — 47 percent — of the county's 2,038 square miles lie within the Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla National Forests or other public holdings, making fuelwood season one of the most broadly relevant annual openings on the public-lands calendar.