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Illinois, 2026 season, 2 offices

Illinois Firewood Permits 2026: Prices, Seasons and Rules

Illinois sells a personal use firewood permit on the Shawnee National Forest and a day permit at its state forests, and state rule bars firewood brought to any DNR property from more than 50 miles away or from out of state unless it is certified.

2
Offices selling permits
1 federal, 1 state
On the office page
Price per cord
set district by district
Quarantine
Bringing wood in
Illinois Dept of Natural Resources
A distance is set
How far it may travel
50 miles
Office by office

Where to buy a firewood permit in Illinois

2 offices in Illinois sell a personal use firewood permit, 1 of them federal and 1 run by the state. Each office posts its own price on its permit page.

The whole state is inside a federal emerald ash borer quarantine, and the Illinois Department of Agriculture runs an interior quarantine on top of it. IDOA puts it this way: "The Illinois Department of Agriculture does not allow movement of hardwood firewood originating in the interior quarantine to leave the interior quarantine unless the firewood meets one of the four federal mitigation measures." Hardwood firewood may not be taken out of Illinois at all.

Shawnee National Forest

Permit on request

USDA Forest Service

Price
$5/CCF
Minimum
a minimum purchase of four CCF. The minimum purchase cost for a firewood permit is $20.
Household limit
20 CCF per individual for up to one year from point of issuance
Wood you may cut
dead and down wood only
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
online through the Forest Service e-permits portal, in person at any District Office or the Forest Supervisor's Office
The Shawnee National Forest sells firewood permits for $5/CCF* with a minimum purchase of four CCF. The minimum purchase cost for a firewood permit is $20.
Firewood Permits, Shawnee National Forest, USDA Forest Service, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

Camping on the forest, you may gather wood for tonight's fire without a permit, but it stays on the forest.

Individuals camping on the Shawnee National Forest are welcome to collect dead and down wood for their evening campfire without a permit. Firewood collected without a permit must be used for a campfire on the Forest; it cannot be taken home or taken to private land.
Shawnee National Forest. Read it at the source

Nothing standing may be cut, alive or dead, whatever its size.

No standing trees may be cut - dead or alive - of any size because there are wildlife species that depend on these trees for habitat.
Shawnee National Forest. Read it at the source

Cut close to the road.

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

Whole areas are off limits, including wilderness, campgrounds and active timber sales.

You CANNOT harvest within: Wilderness areas, Administrative sites, Highway easements, Along established hiking trails, Designated campgrounds, Active timber sales or commercial fuelwood blocks, Any areas closed to entry by Special Orders
Shawnee National Forest. Read it at the source

Carry the paper permit with you; 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 nontransferable. A copy of the permit on a mobile device is not acceptable.
Shawnee National Forest. Read it at the source

Keep pieces short and leave the heavy machinery at home.

Firewood shall not be moved in piece lengths longer than 8 feet. Do not drive off road when ground conditions may cause excessive rutting or ground damage. The use of portable sawmill equipment, mechanized equipment (tractors, ATVs, etc.) and large capacity vehicles is strictly prohibited.
Shawnee National Forest. Read it at the source

Shawnee National Forest firewood permit page

Illinois state forests

Permit on request

Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Price
$10
Household limit
one standard half-ton pickup truck load for each permit, and up to two permits for each calendar year
Wood you may cut
down, dead wood that is unattached from any standing tree
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
in person at the site superintendent's office at the state forest
The fee for such permits shall be $10.
Title 17 Part 170 Firewood Collection, Illinois Administrative Code, Illinois General Assembly, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

Every state forest requires the permit; there is no collecting without one.

Firewood collection shall be allowed at all state forests under the control of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources by permit only.
Illinois state forests. Read it at the source

Collection is only on days the site superintendent opens, announced locally.

Firewood collection days and collection hours will be established at each State forest by the site superintendent. Each State forest will announce, through the local press, the time periods during the year in which collection will take place.
Illinois state forests. Read it at the source

A permit is good for a single day.

Permits shall be effective for one specific date.
Illinois state forests. Read it at the source

Personal use only, never for resale.

Permittees shall collect firewood for personal use only and not for resale.
Illinois state forests. Read it at the source

The load is capped at a half-ton pickup bed, defined by measurement.

A standard half-ton pickup truck load area shall be no more than 79" in length, 72" in width and 20" in height, with a total load area of up to 78 cubic feet.
Illinois state forests. Read it at the source

Take only loose dead wood, and only where the superintendent says.

Permittees may collect only down, dead wood that is unattached from any standing tree and only in areas designated by the site superintendent or his authorized representative.
Illinois state forests. Read it at the source
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Moving firewood

Can you bring firewood into Illinois?

Illinois has a quarantine on the books, which means untreated firewood from outside the line may not come in. The rule is written by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and it sits below in its own words.

Quarantine

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

Firewood carried onto any Illinois DNR property has to come from within 50 miles of the site, or be certified. Anything from outside Illinois has to be certified, and an officer can take non conforming wood away at the gate.

Agency
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
How far wood may travel
50 miles
Certified or treated wood
Heat treated and certified wood may come in
Pests named
emerald ash borer
For any person to bring firewood onto Department-owned, -leased or -managed properties when the firewood was obtained from greater than 50 miles from the site unless it is U.S. Department of Agriculture certified wood or wood that is certified by an agency of the State of Illinois.
Title 17 Part 110 Section 110.60, Illinois Administrative Code, Illinois General Assembly, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

What the rule says

Fifty miles is the line on DNR land, and certified wood is the exception.

For any person to bring firewood onto Department-owned, -leased or -managed properties when the firewood was obtained from greater than 50 miles from the site unless it is U.S. Department of Agriculture certified wood or wood that is certified by an agency of the State of Illinois.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

Firewood from another state has to be certified to cross into Illinois at all.

Firewood may not be brought into Illinois from any location outside of Illinois unless it is U.S. Department of Agriculture certified wood or wood certified by another state's regulatory agency.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

Wood from a quarantined area is barred from DNR property outright.

For any person to bring or possess on Department-owned, -leased or -managed properties firewood from any geographical area where wood exportation has been prohibited by either the State of Illinois or federal quarantine, in violation of 505 ILCS 90/22, or to sell or distribute firewood on Department-owned, -leased or -managed properties without prior written agreement with the Department pursuant to 17 Ill. Adm. Code 150.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

An officer can take the wood.

A Conservation Police Officer may confiscate any firewood brought onto Department-owned, -leased or -managed properties found to be in violation of this Section.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

Some areas are closed to collecting and to chainsaws entirely.

For any person to collect firewood or operate a chain saw in any area that has been closed or posted to prohibit that use.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

The insect named in the Illinois 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 Illinois says about firewood arriving. The nearest states posting a price by the cord:

  1. Wisconsin$5 to $20

Illinois firewood permit questions

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Firewood permits in other states

Illinois heating oil and propane pricesWhat a gallon costs this winter, and how that compares with a cord.First snow in IllinoisWhen the first measurable snow usually falls, city by city.Illinois 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, Shawnee National Forest, 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.