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Minnesota, 2026 season, 3 offices

Minnesota Firewood Permits 2026: Prices, Seasons and Rules

Both Minnesota national forests sell a $20 personal use firewood permit and the state DNR writes fuelwood permits for state forest land, while the Department of Agriculture bans hardwood firewood carried in from other states and the DNR only allows certified or same county wood on its own land.

3
Offices selling permits
2 federal, 1 state
$5
Price per cord
2 priced by the cord
Quarantine
Bringing wood in
Minnesota Dept of Agriculture
3
Pests named
emerald ash borer, spongy moth
Office by office

Where to buy a firewood permit in Minnesota

3 offices in Minnesota sell a personal use firewood permit, 2 of them federal and 1 run by the state. A cord runs $5 depending on which office you buy from.

Minnesota state parks sell firewood at most ranger stations and do not allow gathering: the DNR says collection of firewood in state parks is not allowed, while dead wood may be collected for a campfire in a state forest.

Superior National Forest

Permit on request

USDA Forest Service

Price
$20 for 4 cords
Household limit
4 cords
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
online through the Forest Service ePermit system, in person at any district office
Cost is $20.00 for 4 cords.
Permits, Superior National Forest, USDA Forest Service, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

The permit works on this forest and nowhere else.

The permit is valid on Superior National Forest lands only.
Superior National Forest. Read it at the source

You get a map of the closed areas with the permit, and the permit is yours alone.

Permits are nontransferable and have a non-harvest area map showing restricted areas.
Superior National Forest. Read it at the source

Wood for a campfire while you are camping needs no permit.

When you are building a campfire on National Forest System lands you can collect a reasonable quantity of wood for the campfire without a permit.
Superior National Forest. Read it at the source

Superior National Forest firewood permit page

Chippewa National Forest

Permit on request

USDA Forest Service

Price
Fee of $20 ($5 a cord/4 cord)
Household limit
4 cords
Wood you may cut
dead and down wood
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
online through the Forest Service ePermit system, in person at local Forest Service offices in Walker, Deer River and Blackduck
Personal Use Fuelwood (Firewood) Permits: Fee of $20 ($5 a cord/4 cord).
Permits, Chippewa National Forest, USDA Forest Service, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

The permit runs a year from the day it is issued and has to be on you while you gather.

Firewood permits expire a year from date issued. You must carry your permit with you when gathering personal use firewood and other forest products.
Chippewa National Forest. Read it at the source

No firewood from outside Minnesota may be possessed or moved on this forest.

A FIREWOOD RESTRICTION ORDER issued by the Forest Supervisor bans the possession, storage, or transport of any firewood that originates from outside the state of Minnesota.
Chippewa National Forest. Read it at the source

If you camp here, buy from an approved vendor near your destination and hold the receipt.

When camping or picnicking in the Chippewa National Forest, find a DNR approved firewood vendor near your destination, be sure to keep your receipt to show proof of purchase.
Chippewa National Forest. Read it at the source

Chippewa National Forest firewood permit page

Minnesota state forest lands

Permit on request

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Price
The minimum permit fee is $25
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
in person or by calling ahead to the nearest DNR Forestry office
The minimum permit fee is $25. The permit fee varies depending on the species and volume desired.
Harvesting on state forest lands, Minnesota DNR, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

Taking fuelwood home means a permit; burning dead wood on the spot does not.

Collect a large amount of berries, mushrooms, or dead fuelwood for personal use or sale.
Minnesota state forest lands. Read it at the source

A campfire in a state forest is the exception.

Dead fuelwood for fires while recreating in a state forest.
Minnesota state forest lands. Read it at the source

A permit is tied to one piece of ground, so you have to know where you are cutting first.

Note: There is no statewide foraging permit. The permit only applies to the specified state forest land.
Minnesota state forest lands. Read it at the source

The fee moves with species and volume, and permits run up to a year.

The permit fee varies depending on the species and volume desired.
Minnesota state forest lands. Read it at the source

Bring a check, identification, and the names of anyone else in the household who will cut.

Have valid identification, along with the legal names of anyone else in your household who wants to harvest on the same permit.
Minnesota state forest lands. Read it at the source

Minnesota state forest lands firewood permit page

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Moving firewood

Can you bring firewood into Minnesota?

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

Quarantine

Minnesota restricts moving firewood into or within the state.

Minnesota bans hardwood firewood brought in from other states and holds uncertified hardwood firewood inside its emerald ash borer and spongy moth quarantine counties. On DNR land you may burn only certified firewood, wood bought in that park, or wood harvested in the same county.

Agency
Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Certified or treated wood
Heat treated and certified wood may come in
Pests named
emerald ash borer, spongy moth, Asian longhorned beetle
It is illegal to transport hardwood firewood out of quarantined counties in Minnesota unless it is MDA certified. It is also illegal to bring hardwood firewood from any other state into an area of Minnesota not quarantined for emerald ash borer.
Buying and Moving Firewood in Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

What the rule says

Hardwood firewood from another state cannot come in.

It is also illegal to bring hardwood firewood from any other state into an area of Minnesota not quarantined for emerald ash borer.
Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Read it at the source

Uncertified hardwood firewood cannot leave a quarantined county.

It is illegal to transport hardwood firewood out of quarantined counties in Minnesota unless it is MDA certified.
Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Read it at the source

All non coniferous firewood is a regulated article under the emerald ash borer quarantine.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) considers the following materials regulated articles: Ash logs, Ash tree waste, Ash chips and mulch, All non-coniferous firewood
Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Read it at the source

To leave a quarantine area the bundle has to be certified, labeled and still sealed.

You can only move firewood out of emerald ash borer (EAB) or spongy moth quarantine areas if all of the following conditions are met: Firewood is MDA-certified, It displays the required MDA certification label, The bundle is unopened
Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Read it at the source

On DNR land the wood must be certified, bought in that park, or cut in the same county you will burn it.

If the firewood bundle you purchased is not certified, you can still bring it onto DNR lands as long as it is not ash, and it was harvested in the same county where you will burn it.
Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Read it at the source

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

  1. South Dakota$5
  2. Wisconsin$5 to $20

Minnesota firewood permit questions

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Firewood permits in other states

Minnesota heating oil and propane pricesWhat a gallon costs this winter, and how that compares with a cord.First snow in MinnesotaWhen the first measurable snow usually falls, city by city.Minnesota 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 Permits, Superior 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.