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Missouri, 2026 season, 2 offices

Missouri Firewood Permits 2026: Prices, Seasons and Rules

Missouri sells $20 personal use firewood permits on the Mark Twain National Forest and issues fuelwood cutting permits on conservation areas, and while wood moves freely inside the state, a statewide quarantine keeps hardwood firewood from leaving it.

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

Where to buy a firewood permit in Missouri

2 offices in Missouri 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.

Mark Twain National Forest

Permit on request

USDA Forest Service

Price
$20/permit for 4 ccf
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
in person at a ranger district office
Firewood permits are $20/permit for 4 ccf
Firewood Permits, Mark Twain National Forest, USDA Forest Service, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

Campers can pick up dead and downed wood for a campfire with no permit.

If you are camping on national forest lands you can collect dead and downed wood for campfires without a permit.
Mark Twain National Forest. Read it at the source

Anything beyond that needs a permit.

All other firewood collecting requires a permit.
Mark Twain National Forest. Read it at the source

Cutting happens in the areas the forest opens, usually old timber sale units.

Usually firewood areas are located within closed timber sale units or other areas with down timber.
Mark Twain National Forest. Read it at the source

Permits run six months or less and expire on fixed quarter dates.

Generally permits will be valid for six months or less and will end on March 30, June 30, September 30, or December 31.
Mark Twain National Forest. Read it at the source

Call the district before you go, since the open areas change.

Please contact your local district office for more information on permit requirements and where firewood is currently available.
Mark Twain National Forest. Read it at the source

You buy at the ranger district office.

Firewood permits can be purchased from your local ranger district office.
Mark Twain National Forest. Read it at the source

Missouri conservation areas

Permit on request

Missouri Department of Conservation

Price
On the office page
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
ask the area manager or resource forester for the conservation area
No firewood may be cut without a fuel wood cutting permit issued by the Area Manager.
Poosey Conservation Area, Missouri Department of Conservation, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

Cutting firewood on a conservation area takes a fuelwood cutting permit from the area manager.

No firewood may be cut without a fuel wood cutting permit issued by the Area Manager.
Missouri conservation areas. Read it at the source

On some areas the line is drawn at live trees, and the permit comes from the resource forester.

No live trees may be cut for firewood without a fuelwood cutting permit issued by the resource forester.
Missouri conservation areas. Read it at the source

Campfires have to be contained and put out before you leave.

All fires must be contained and must be thoroughly extinguished when left.
Missouri conservation areas. Read it at the source
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Moving firewood

Can you bring firewood into Missouri?

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

Quarantine

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

A statewide quarantine stops hardwood firewood from leaving Missouri. Inside the state wood moves freely, and the agency asks you to keep it within 50 miles of where it was cut.

Agency
Missouri Department of Conservation
How far wood may travel
50 miles
Certified or treated wood
The rule does not turn on a certificate
Pests named
emerald ash borer, oak wilt
Missouri has a statewide firewood quarantine that restricts the movement of hardwood firewood out of Missouri.
Don't Move Firewood, Missouri Department of Conservation, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

What the rule says

Hardwood firewood cannot leave the state.

Missouri has a statewide firewood quarantine that restricts the movement of hardwood firewood out of Missouri.
Missouri Department of Conservation. Read it at the source

Inside Missouri there is no rule, only a strong 50 mile recommendation.

Firewood is free to move within the state, but officials strongly recommend not moving firewood more than 50 miles from where it was harvested to reduce the risk of spreading invasive pests.
Missouri Department of Conservation. Read it at the source

Packaged heat treated wood with the USDA shield is the one kind the agency calls safe to move.

The only firewood considered safe to move is packaged, heat-treated firewood labeled with the USDA shield.
Missouri Department of Conservation. Read it at the source

Leave what you do not burn at the campsite rather than carrying it home.

If you purchased wood near your campsite and have some left over, the best option is to leave it at the campsite for the next camper or share it with someone staying in that campground.
Missouri Department of Conservation. Read it at the source

The insects and diseases named in the Missouri rule are emerald ash borer 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
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 Missouri says about firewood arriving. The nearest states posting a price by the cord:

  1. Nebraska$5

Missouri firewood permit questions

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Firewood permits in other states

Missouri heating oil and propane pricesWhat a gallon costs this winter, and how that compares with a cord.First snow in MissouriWhen the first measurable snow usually falls, city by city.Missouri 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, Mark Twain 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.