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Alabama, 2026 season, 1 office

Alabama Firewood Permits 2026: Prices, Seasons and Rules

Alabama's four national forests sell personal use forest product permits in person at ranger district offices, and the state forestry agency asks people not to carry firewood long distances but sets no enforceable movement rule.

1
Office selling permits
national forest and BLM
On the office page
Price per cord
set district by district
Advisory
Bringing wood in
Alabama Forestry Commission
1
Pest named
emerald ash borer
Office by office

Where to buy a firewood permit in Alabama

One office in Alabama sells a personal use firewood permit. Each office posts its own price on its permit page.

The four national forests in Alabama (Bankhead, Conecuh, Talladega and Tuskegee) are administered together and share the one permits page, which publishes no firewood price, quantity or season.

National Forests in Alabama

Permit on request

USDA Forest Service

Price
On the office page
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
in person at a Forest Service office, the appropriate Ranger District office
Prior to removing forest products for personal use from National Forest System lands, visitors are required to purchase a forest products permit.
Passes and permits, National Forests in Alabama, USDA Forest Service, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

A permit must be bought before any forest product is removed, and it has to be bought in person.

Prior to removing forest products for personal use from National Forest System lands, visitors are required to purchase a forest products permit. These permits must be purchased in person at a Forest Service office.
National Forests in Alabama. Read it at the source

What is available and what it costs varies by ranger district, so the forest tells people to call the district office first.

Permits are issued for many products and a minimal fee may be charged. Contact a local district office first for a listing of available products.
National Forests in Alabama. Read it at the source

Firewood specifically is handled as a special use permit through the ranger district.

Special use permits for firewood, road access, etc. may be obtained by contacting the appropriate Ranger District Office for more details and information about how to obtain a permit.
National Forests in Alabama. Read it at the source

Any commercial cutting needs a permit too, not just personal use.

Remember, all commercial uses or removal of products on public lands requires a permit.
National Forests in Alabama. Read it at the source
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Moving firewood

Can you bring firewood into Alabama?

Alabama asks rather than forbids: buy your wood close to the fire you will burn it on. The rule is written by the Alabama Forestry Commission, and it sits below in its own words.

Advisory

Alabama has no statewide ban, and asks that you buy firewood where you burn it.

Alabama publishes no firewood quarantine of its own. The state forestry agency asks people not to move cut wood or firewood long distances and to buy firewood local to where they are camping.

Agency
Alabama Forestry Commission
Pests named
emerald ash borer
Since the borer can live in cut wood, do not move infested wood debris or firewood long distances into other areas. If travelling to another destination for recreational activities, buy local firewood.
Emerald Ash Borer, Alabama Forestry Commission, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

What the rule says

Buy firewood where you will burn it rather than hauling it to a recreation destination.

Since the borer can live in cut wood, do not move infested wood debris or firewood long distances into other areas. If travelling to another destination for recreational activities, buy local firewood.
Alabama Forestry Commission. Read it at the source

Keeping wood close to where it was cut is the agency's stated way to slow the pest.

Preventing the movement of infested wood long distances and proper disposal can drastically reduce the spread of this exotic pest.
Alabama Forestry Commission. Read it at the source

Infested wood is meant to be chipped and burned where the tree stood.

The primary recommendation, however, is to cut down the infested tree, chip the wood into 1 square inch or smaller pieces, and burn the debris at the original location.
Alabama Forestry Commission. Read it at the source

The insect named in the Alabama rule is emerald ash borer. A beetle covers a few hundred yards in a season on its own wings, and several hundred miles in an afternoon in the bed of a pickup, which is the whole reason the rule exists.

A slender metallic green beetle about half an inch long resting on pale cracked tree bark
The emerald ash borer, photographed by USDA Plant Protection and Quarantine. It flies only a short way on its own; a load of untreated firewood carries it as far as the truck goes, which is why more states name it in their firewood rules than any other pest. “Plant Protection and Quarantine (34954841290)”, APHIS.gov, Public domain
Nearby

What a cord costs in the states next door

A permit is only good on the land the office manages, so a cheaper cord across the line still has to obey whatever Alabama says about firewood arriving. The nearest states posting a price by the cord:

  1. Florida$5
  2. Georgia$5

Alabama firewood permit questions

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Firewood permits in other states

Alabama heating oil and propane pricesWhat a gallon costs this winter, and how that compares with a cord.First snow in AlabamaWhen the first measurable snow usually falls, city by city.Alabama Christmas tree permitsThe other permit the same ranger district sells each winter.Firewood permits by stateEvery price by the cord in one table, with the rule on moving wood.
An open pole woodshed in a spruce clearing, one bay filled with stacked cordwood, a hydraulic log splitter in the foreground
An Alaska woodshed in summer with the winter stacked and the splitter still out. A cord is a stack four feet by four feet by eight feet, and that is the unit nearly every permit is priced in. “Alaska woodshed”, Keith Parker, CC BY-SA 2.0

Compiled September 22, 2026 from Passes and permits, National Forests in Alabama, USDA Forest Service and the other agency pages linked beside each quote above. Prices, seasons and quarantine boundaries change, so the agency’s own page is the one to read before you load a truck. Every state is in the national firewood permit guide.