Skip to content
Florida, 2026 season, 1 office

Florida Firewood Permits 2026: Prices, Seasons and Rules

One Forest Service permit covers firewood cutting on all three national forests in Florida, pine is free and hardwood costs five dollars a cord, and a state rule stops commercial firewood at the Florida line without a permit from the state it came from.

1
Office selling permits
national forest and BLM
$5
Price per cord
1 priced by the cord
Quarantine
Bringing wood in
Florida Dept of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry
A distance is set
How far it may travel
50 miles
Office by office

Where to buy a firewood permit in Florida

One office in Florida sells a personal use firewood permit. A cord runs $5 depending on which office you buy from.

National Forests in Florida

Permit on request

USDA Forest Service

Price
Firewood permits - $5/CORD with a minimum purchase of four CORDS. The minimum purchase cost for a firewood permit is $20.
Minimum
a minimum purchase of four CORDS
Household limit
The maximum removal limit is 8 CORDS per individual per calendar year (January 1 through December 31).
Wood you may cut
dead and down hardwoods under the paid permit; dead and down conifers under a free use permit
Cutting season
Jan 1 to Dec 31
Where to buy
online through the Forest Service Special Forest Product E-Permits portal, in person at any district office, by appointment
Individuals who wish to collect firewood to burn at home or on private property must acquire a firewood permit. Firewood may only be collected in the designated areas provided with the firewood permit.
Firewood Permits, National Forests in Florida, USDA Forest Service, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

Wood for the campfire you are sitting at needs no permit; wood you take home does.

Individuals camping on the National Forests in Florida are welcome to collect dead and down wood for their evening campfire without a permit. No standing trees may be cut - dead or alive - of any size.
National Forests in Florida. Read it at the source

There are two permits, and which one you need depends on whether you want pine or oak.

Firewood Free use permits - are available to harvest dead and down conifers (pine species such as sand, slash, loblolly, and long leaf pines).
National Forests in Florida. Read it at the source

Cutting is confined to a strip beside roads and parking areas, and several kinds of ground are closed.

The designated harvest area is limited to within 100 feet of the clearing limits of roadways and parking areas.
National Forests in Florida. Read it at the source

Standing trees are off limits whether they are alive or dead, and so is anything marked.

The following MAY NOT be harvested: Live trees Standing dead trees Trees with paint marks, signs, or national forest tags
National Forests in Florida. Read it at the source

Carry the paper permit; a photo of it on your phone will not do.

A printed physical permit must be in the permittee's possession and kept readily available while harvesting and transporting products. This permit is non-transferable. A copy of the permit on a mobile device is not acceptable.
National Forests in Florida. Read it at the source

Cut it short and keep the heavy machinery at home.

Firewood shall not be moved in piece lengths longer than 6 feet. Do not drive off road when ground conditions may cause excessive rutting or ground damage. The use of portable sawmill equipment, large capacity hydraulic boom loaders, and large capacity truck/trailer combinations is prohibited.
National Forests in Florida. Read it at the source

National Forests in Florida firewood permit page

Advertisement
Moving firewood

Can you bring firewood into Florida?

Florida has a quarantine on the books, which means untreated firewood from outside the line may not come in. The rule is written by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry, and it sits below in its own words.

Quarantine

Florida restricts moving firewood, and its agencies ask that wood travel no more than 50 miles.

Florida's Rule 5B-65 stops commercial firewood at the state line unless it carries a permit from the plant protection agency where it was cut, with an exemption for wood harvested and burned within fifty miles. Firewood may not enter Miami-Dade County from anywhere else unless the department has treated and certified it.

Agency
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry
How far wood may travel
50 miles
Certified or treated wood
Heat treated and certified wood may come in
Pests named
redbay ambrosia beetle, emerald ash borer, Sirex wood wasp, Asian longhorned beetle, gypsy moth, laurel wilt, beech bark disease, sudden oak death, oak wilt
The movement of commercial shipments of firewood, unprocessed wood products and other regulated articles into Florida is prohibited unless accompanied by a permit issued by the state plant protection organization in the state of origin.
Firewood Movement Regulations, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

What the rule says

Commercial loads need paperwork from the state they left.

The movement of commercial shipments of firewood, unprocessed wood products and other regulated articles into Florida is prohibited unless accompanied by a permit issued by the state plant protection organization in the state of origin.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry. Read it at the source

Wood cut and burned inside a fifty mile radius is exempt, with a bill of lading and proof of where it came from.

Locally produced or harvested firewood and unprocessed wood products harvested or produced within a 50-mile radius of the distribution point and not moved more than 50-miles from the point of origin are exempted and may be transported from areas contiguous to Florida without a certificate of treatment if the articles are accompanied by a proper bill of lading, proof of origin, and any applicable federal certificates for shipments originating from a USDA-regulated area.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry. Read it at the source

Miami-Dade County is sealed off: wood from anywhere else has to be treated and certified first.

No locally produced firewood outside Miami-Dade County may enter Miami-Dade County unless treated and certified by the Department.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry. Read it at the source

A family carrying uncertified wood through an agricultural inspection station is handled with a form, not turned away.

Non-commercial shipments of regulated articles entering the state through the Department’s agricultural interdiction stations without certification will be allowed entry only when issued a Report of Non-Commercial (Homeowner) Plants or Firewood Without Certification in Transit from Other States.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry. Read it at the source

The advice to campers is the simplest version of the rule.

Buy firewood when you reach your destination and Burn it all on site.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry. Read it at the source

The insects and diseases named in the Florida rule are redbay ambrosia beetle, emerald ash borer, Sirex wood wasp, Asian longhorned beetle, gypsy moth, laurel wilt, beech bark disease, sudden oak death and oak wilt. 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
When to cut

Firewood cutting season in Florida

Each office sets its own window, and most of them close it when fire danger rises or the roads soften. The dates that office has posted:

  • National Forests in FloridaJan 1 to Dec 31

Offices close their gates for weather and fire restrictions inside these windows, so the office’s own page is the one to check the week you go.

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 Florida says about firewood arriving. The nearest states posting a price by the cord:

  1. Georgia$5

Florida firewood permit questions

Advertisement

Firewood permits in other states

Florida heating oil and propane pricesWhat a gallon costs this winter, and how that compares with a cord.Florida 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 Firewood Permits, National Forests in Florida, 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.