Skip to content
Indiana, 2026 season, 2 offices

Indiana Firewood Permits 2026: Prices, Seasons and Rules

Indiana issues firewood cutting permits on nine state forests and on the Hoosier National Forest, and any firewood you carry onto a DNR property has to be debarked, kiln dried scrap lumber, or stamped.

2
Offices selling permits
1 federal, 1 state
On the office page
Price per cord
set district by district
Certified wood
Bringing wood in
Indiana Dept of Natural Resources
5
Pests named
emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle
Office by office

Where to buy a firewood permit in Indiana

2 offices in Indiana 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.

State parks are for buying firewood, not gathering it. Indiana DNR states it plainly: "Collecting firewood or cutting down standing trees is not permitted in state parks and recreation areas. You can purchase firewood in most state parks and reservoirs." The Division of Forestry adds that state forests are the only state owned properties with firewood cutting programs.

Hoosier National Forest

Permit on request

USDA Forest Service

Price
On the office page
Household limit
up to 2 cords
Wood you may cut
dead, downed material, with no standing trees cut or defaced
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
in person by contacting a local Forest Service office
A permit is required for firewood collection. Please contact our offices for more information.
Forest Product Permits, Hoosier National Forest, USDA Forest Service, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

One permit covers about two cords, roughly three medium trees.

A firewood permit (FS 2400-1) can be issued for up to 2 cords which on average is three medium size trees (14 inches dbh).
Hoosier National Forest. Read it at the source

A permit runs for three months at most.

Permits will be issued for a maximum of three months.
Hoosier National Forest. Read it at the source

Camping on the forest, a small armful of down wood for tonight needs no permit.

Firewood or free use permits are not needed for picking up small quantities of down firewood for use in National Forest campground areas or while dispersed camping on National Forest System land.
Hoosier National Forest. Read it at the source

Only dead and down wood, and nothing standing.

Use of on-site firewood must only be from dead, downed material. Standing trees, living or dead, may not be cut or defaced.
Hoosier National Forest. Read it at the source

Cutting areas sit close to the road, and vehicles stay on existing roads.

Firewood permits can be issued primarily in Management Areas 2.8 and 3.3 established firewood areas or where it is identified there are numerous down trees adjacent (within 70 feet of the roads) to county or Forest Service roads.
Hoosier National Forest. Read it at the source

Check the wood is there before you buy, because the sale is final.

Firewood permit sales are final. No refunds will be made.
Hoosier National Forest. Read it at the source

Indiana state forests

Permit on request

Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Price
$10 per rick or 3 ricks for $25
Household limit
up to 10 ricks per year
Wood you may cut
the tops left behind after a timber harvest, with no standing trees taken
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
in person at the state forest office
Forest office personnel can issue firewood cutting permits which cost $10 per rick or 3 ricks for $25. A permittee may cut up to 10 ricks per year.
Cutting Firewood on State Forests, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

What you cut is the leftovers of a timber sale, never a standing tree.

Normally, the tops of the trees are left in the woods after the sawlogs are removed; these tops may be utilized for firewood. No standing trees, either alive or dead, may be taken.
Indiana state forests. Read it at the source

The property manager decides when and where cutting happens, so call first.

The forest property manager has discretion as to when and where firewood cutting is allowed. Contact the forest office where you wish to cut firewood to be sure there is an area open.
Indiana state forests. Read it at the source

Nine state forests run the program.

Properties that allow firewood cutting are: Clark State Forest, Ferdinand State Forest, Greene-Sullivan State Forest, Jackson-Washington State Forest, Martin State Forest, Morgan-Monroe State Forest, Owen-Putnam State Forest, Yellowwood State Forest, Harrison-Wyandotte State Forest
Indiana state forests. Read it at the source

Keep the truck on the road; the cutting areas are not easy ground.

The areas designated for firewood cutting are not always easily accessible. Vehicles must remain on designated roads.
Indiana state forests. Read it at the source

Buy the permit before you start and keep it on you.

Obtain your permit before cutting, and keep your permit with you.
Indiana state forests. Read it at the source
Advertisement
Moving firewood

Can you bring firewood into Indiana?

Indiana asks that firewood arriving from elsewhere be treated and certified, which is what the stamp on a store bundle means. The rule is written by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and it sits below in its own words.

Certified wood

Indiana asks that firewood brought onto public land be certified heat treated wood.

Indiana does not measure firewood in miles. Wood you bring to a state park, reservoir, state forest or fish and wildlife area has to be debarked, kiln dried scrap lumber, bought on the property, or carry a state or USDA compliance stamp.

Agency
Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Certified or treated wood
Heat treated and certified wood may come in
Pests named
emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, thousand cankers disease, sirex woodwasp, spongy moth
You can bring firewood into a state park, reservoir, state forest, or state fish and wildlife area if: It is kiln-dried scrap lumber with no bark. It is purchased from the property camp store or on-site firewood vendor. It is from your home or another Indiana location and has all bark removed. It bears a state compliance stamp or a USDA compliance stamp.
Firewood Rules, Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

What the rule says

Four ways in, and nothing else counts.

You can bring firewood into a state park, reservoir, state forest, or state fish and wildlife area if: It is kiln-dried scrap lumber with no bark. It is purchased from the property camp store or on-site firewood vendor. It is from your home or another Indiana location and has all bark removed. It bears a state compliance stamp or a USDA compliance stamp.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

Wood from home works only once the bark is off, and seasoning a year makes that easier.

Allow your wood to season for at least a year in a warm, sunny location. For example, stack it on the south or west side of the house. Split the bark off just as you would split larger-diameter pieces into smaller ones to fit into a fire ring.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

Debarked wood from another state may still be blocked by Indiana's thousand cankers quarantine.

Indiana has a quarantine on firewood coming from states with Thousand Canker Disease including Tennessee, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

Keep the stamped label; staff do ask at the campsite.

Be sure to keep the label with the stamp handy in case DNR security staff or Indiana conservation officers visit your site and ask about your firewood.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

Vendors selling on state property must hold the state stamp themselves.

Vendors selling firewood ON state properties at camp stores must obtain a state compliance stamp.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

The insects and diseases named in the Indiana rule are emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, thousand cankers disease, sirex woodwasp and spongy moth. 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 Indiana says about firewood arriving. The nearest states posting a price by the cord:

  1. Michigan$4

Indiana firewood permit questions

Advertisement

Firewood permits in other states

Indiana heating oil and propane pricesWhat a gallon costs this winter, and how that compares with a cord.First snow in IndianaWhen the first measurable snow usually falls, city by city.Indiana 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 Forest Product Permits, Hoosier 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.