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New York, 2026 season, 1 office

New York Firewood Permits 2026: Prices, Seasons and Rules

New York's one personal use firewood permit on public land is sold by the Finger Lakes National Forest, and statewide the DEC regulation stops untreated firewood from travelling more than 50 miles from where it grew unless it has been heat treated.

1
Office selling permits
national forest and BLM
$10
Price per cord
1 priced by the cord
Quarantine
Bringing wood in
New York State Dept of Environmental Conservation
A distance is set
How far it may travel
50 miles
Office by office

Where to buy a firewood permit in New York

One office in New York sells a personal use firewood permit. A cord runs $10 depending on which office you buy from.

DEC state forests and Forest Preserve carry no personal use firewood cutting permit. The rules for use page tells visitors to use local or heat treated firewood and says unauthorized cutting of live trees is prohibited. New York State Parks repeats the same firewood regulation in its camping rules.

Finger Lakes National Forest

Permit on request

USDA Forest Service

Price
$10 per cord
Minimum
A minimum charge of $20 (2 cords)
Household limit
A maximum volume of 10 cords
Wood you may cut
dead-and-down trees only
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
USDA E-Permits online, in person at the nearest Ranger Station
Firewood permits are issued for: A minimum charge of $20 (2 cords*) at $10 per cord. A maximum volume of 10 cords.
Firewood, Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests, USDA Forest Service, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

Only dead and down trees may be cut, and live or standing dead trees are off limits without written permission.

Firewood cutting is permitted for dead-and-down trees only. No standing-dead trees are to be harvested, and no live trees may be cut without written permission.
Finger Lakes National Forest. Read it at the source

The permit belongs to the buyer, who has to be on hand with the paper permit and photo identification while cutting or hauling.

The permit is assigned only to the purchaser. When firewood is harvested or transported, the permit holder must be present with the original permit and a photo ID.
Finger Lakes National Forest. Read it at the source

Cutting is tied to roads open on the motor vehicle use map and stops 150 feet from the road edge, with no ATVs or skidders.

Firewood may only be taken within 150 feet of the edge of the open road. The use of tractors, rubber-tire skidders, ATVs, and similar vehicles is not allowed.
Finger Lakes National Forest. Read it at the source

Stay well back from water.

Do not cut trees within 100 feet of wetlands, beaver ponds, lakes, streams, or rivers.
Finger Lakes National Forest. Read it at the source

The forest asks that cut wood stay near its source and reminds cutters that untreated wood cannot cross the state line.

Transport of firewood is subject to State regulations and firewood should not be moved more than 30 miles from its source to prevent the spread of invasive tree pests. It is prohibited to move untreated firewood across state lines in Vermont or New York.
Finger Lakes National Forest. Read it at the source

Finger Lakes National Forest firewood permit page

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Moving firewood

Can you bring firewood into New York?

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

Quarantine

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

New York bans untreated firewood coming in from any other state or country, and caps in state untreated firewood at 50 miles of travel from its source unless it has been heat treated. Wood you cut yourself needs a Self-Issued Certificate of Origin in the vehicle with you.

Agency
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
How far wood may travel
50 miles
Certified or treated wood
The rule does not turn on a certificate
Pests named
Asian longhorned beetle, oak wilt, laurel wilt
Untreated firewood grown in NY may not be transported more than 50 miles (linear distance) from its source or origin unless it has been heat-treated to 71° C (160° F) for 75 minutes.
Firewood and Invasive Pests, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

What the rule says

Untreated firewood cannot be brought into New York from anywhere else.

Untreated firewood may not be imported into NY from any other state or country.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Read it at the source

Heat treatment means a specific temperature held for a specific time, and seasoning does not count.

Seasoning firewood (storing it cut and piled and letting it air-dry for a period of time) is not a proven way to eliminate potential invasive insects or diseases and is not an acceptable treatment for firewood that will be transported away from its source or origin.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Read it at the source

Wood you cut for your own use travels with a self-issued certificate; wood you buy travels with a receipt or label naming its source.

If transporting untreated firewood cut for personal use (i.e. not for sale) you must fill out a Self-Issued Certificate of Origin (PDF). If purchasing and transporting untreated firewood, it must have a receipt or label that identifies the firewood source.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Read it at the source

Heat treated wood carries a specific label and then moves freely.

If purchasing and transporting heat-treated firewood, it must have a receipt or label that says, "New York Approved Heat-Treated Firewood/Pest Free". This is the producers' declaration that the firewood meets New York's heat-treatment requirements.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Read it at the source

Where a pest quarantine boundary is closer than 50 miles, the quarantine wins.

You must follow the more restrictive rules for firewood transport between the quarantine and the firewood regulation.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Read it at the source

The insects and diseases named in the New York rule are Asian longhorned beetle, oak wilt and laurel 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 New York says about firewood arriving. The nearest states posting a price by the cord:

  1. Pennsylvania$5 to $20
  2. Vermont$10
  3. New Jersey$25
  4. Connecticut$30

New York firewood permit questions

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Firewood permits in other states

New York heating oil and propane pricesWhat a gallon costs this winter, and how that compares with a cord.First snow in New YorkWhen the first measurable snow usually falls, city by city.New York 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, Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests, 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.