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Texas, 2026 season, 1 office

Texas Firewood Permits 2026: Prices, Seasons and Rules

The National Forests and Grasslands in Texas sell a personal use firewood permit in person, two cords for $20, and the state has an emerald ash borer quarantine covering a long and growing list of counties.

1
Office selling permits
national forest and BLM
$20
Price per cord
1 priced by the cord
Quarantine
Bringing wood in
Texas Dept of Agriculture
1
Pest named
emerald ash borer
Office by office

Where to buy a firewood permit in Texas

One office in Texas sells a personal use firewood permit. A cord runs $20 depending on which office you buy from.

Texas state parks do not let visitors gather wood; most parks sell it instead. The counties under the emerald ash borer quarantine when this was read were Bell, Bowie, Bosque, Camp, Cass, Clay, Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Franklin, Grayson, Hardin, Harrison, Hill, Hood, Hopkins, Jack, Johnson, Lamar, Marion, McLennan, Montague, Morris, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Parker, Red River, Rockwall, Rusk, Somervell, Tarrant, Titus, Upshur, Walker, Wise, Wood and Young. The list grew eight times during 2026, so check the department's page before hauling wood.

National Forests and Grasslands in Texas

Permit on request

USDA Forest Service

Price
A minimum of 2 cords (a cord equals 128 cubic feet of wood) per permit for a $20 fee are available.
Minimum
A minimum of 2 cords per permit
Wood you may cut
downed and designated trees, marked by the Forest Service
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
in person at a ranger district office
Permits are typically offered on the Angelina, Davy Crockett, Sabine, and Sam Houston National Forests, as well as the Caddo and Lyndon B. Johnson National Grasslands.
Permits, National Forests and Grasslands In Texas, USDA Forest Service, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

You buy in person, with an application and a photo ID.

Permits are issued in person. You’ll need to complete a short application and provide a valid photo ID.
National Forests and Grasslands in Texas. Read it at the source

Only wood the Forest Service has marked, and no live trees.

Cutting live trees is not allowed Only collect dead and down wood marked by the Forest Service.
National Forests and Grasslands in Texas. Read it at the source

The permit comes with a map of the marked wood.

With your permit, you’ll receive a map showing the designated firewood marked for your permit.
National Forests and Grasslands in Texas. Read it at the source

Stay on designated roads.

Vehicles must remain on designated roads; off-road travel is not permitted.
National Forests and Grasslands in Texas. Read it at the source

Personal use only, and you cannot sell it.

Wood must not be resold or used for commercial purposes.
National Forests and Grasslands in Texas. Read it at the source

A saw may be off limits when it is dry.

Chain saw use may be restricted during dry or high-fire risk conditions.
National Forests and Grasslands in Texas. Read it at the source
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Moving firewood

Can you bring firewood into Texas?

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

Quarantine

Texas restricts moving firewood into or within the state.

Texas has an emerald ash borer quarantine on hardwood firewood and ash products, and the list of quarantined counties grew several times in 2026. The department's advice to campers is to buy the wood where they will burn it.

Agency
Texas Department of Agriculture
Pests named
emerald ash borer
Prevention of the movement of infested firewood is a critical tool in impeding the spread of this highly destructive pest. Campers are strongly advised not to transport firewood, but to buy it locally, where they plan to use it.
Emerald Ash Borer, Texas Department of Agriculture, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

What the rule says

The quarantine is a state rule, not just advice.

With the goal of containing and managing Emerald Ash Borer infestations, the department has adopted (Title 4, Chapter 19, Subchapter Z, §§19.700-19.703).
Texas Department of Agriculture. Read it at the source

Every ash species in Texas is at risk, including the native ones.

All species of ash ( Fraxinus spp.), including those native to Texas, are vulnerable.
Texas Department of Agriculture. Read it at the source

Moving regulated wood out of a quarantined county needs an approved treatment.

CLICK HERE for the list of TDA mitigation and treatment measures for the movement of EAB regulated articles from the quarantined areas.
Texas Department of Agriculture. Read it at the source

Four more counties were added in the summer of 2026.

7/22/2026. The Walker County Quarantined Area is hereby established due to the detection of EAB adult specimens from traps in Walker County.
Texas Department of Agriculture. Read it at the source

The beetle travels slowly on its own and fast in a load of wood.

However, it is artificially spread much longer distances by transport of firewood and other infested wood products that contain ash bark, which allows EAB to reach new areas and create satellite populations.
Texas Department of Agriculture. Read it at the source

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

  1. New Mexico$2 to $20

Texas firewood permit questions

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Firewood permits in other states

Texas heating oil and propane pricesWhat a gallon costs this winter, and how that compares with a cord.First snow in TexasWhen the first measurable snow usually falls, city by city.Texas 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, National Forests and Grasslands In Texas, 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.