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Wisconsin, 2026 season, 2 offices

Wisconsin Firewood Permits 2026: Prices, Seasons and Rules

Wisconsin sells personal use firewood permits on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and on DNR managed state land, and it limits what firewood you may carry onto state parks and forests to certified wood or wood from within 10 miles.

2
Offices selling permits
1 federal, 1 state
$5 to $20
Price per cord
2 priced by the cord
Quarantine
Bringing wood in
Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources
A distance is set
How far it may travel
10 miles
Office by office

Where to buy a firewood permit in Wisconsin

2 offices in Wisconsin sell a personal use firewood permit, 1 of them federal and 1 run by the state. A cord runs $5 to $20 depending on which office you buy from.

Firewood certified by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection may be moved anywhere in the state. DATCP states it this way: "It is always legal to move DATCP-certified firewood." Each state campground publishes a map of its own 10 mile radius.

Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

Permit on request

USDA Forest Service

Price
$5 per cord
Minimum
$20 for 4 cords
Household limit
12 cords per permittee per year on the Forest
Wood you may cut
dead trees only, with live trees cut only where the District Ranger designates them in writing
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
in person at a Forest Service office, online
Firewood is $5.00 per cord.
Firewood Permits, Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, USDA Forest Service, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

Only dead trees may be taken, and a dead tree has to have lost at least a quarter of its bark.

We only allow the cutting and removal of dead trees. Dead trees have no live branches and have lost at least 25% of their bark.
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Read it at the source

Standing dead trees over 18 inches through at breast height stay standing.

Standing dead trees over 18 inches in diameter (measured at 4.5 feet above the ground) may not be felled.
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Read it at the source

Cut low: the stump left behind cannot be taller than 10 inches.

If you cut a dead-standing tree, the remaining stump may not exceed 10 inches in height.
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Read it at the source

Stay back from water.

Trees within 100 feet of beaver ponds, lakes, streams, or rivers may not be cut.
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Read it at the source

Cut near the road, not deep in the woods.

Firewood may only be taken within 150 feet of the edge of the open road.
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Read it at the source

A forest order limits what firewood you may bring with you, separate from what you cut here.

The Chequamegon-Nicolet NF has issued a Firewood Restriction Order that bans the possession, storage, or transport of any firewood that originates from outside the state of Wisconsin or more than 25 miles from the destination point unless certified (refer to Order # R913-09-02).
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Read it at the source

DNR managed lands

Permit on request

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Price
generally $20 per cord
Household limit
a maximum of ten cords
Wood you may cut
both dead and downed trees, as well as designated live trees, but varies by property
Cutting season
Sold on request
Where to buy
in person at the property, by mail to the property, where the property allows it
Permit price may vary slightly from property to property, but is generally $20 per cord, with a maximum of tens cords.
Miscellaneous Forest Products Permits, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

Rules on this permit

The permit is a specific form the property manager has to approve.

Individuals are required to have an approved Forest Products Permit Form 2460-008 issued by the property manager.
DNR managed lands. Read it at the source

Call the property first, because the conditions are set property by property.

Anyone interested in a forest products permit should contact the specific DNR property before harvesting to find out property-specific regulations and obtain a permit.
DNR managed lands. Read it at the source

Personal use only, and generally not beside roads, trails, lakes or recreation areas.

Firewood can be cut with a permit and can only be used for personal use. Permits include several conditions and each property may have specific conditions depending on the property type. Generally, trees cannot be cut near roads, trails or lakes or within designated recreation areas and may consist of both dead and downed trees, as well as designated live trees, but varies by property.
DNR managed lands. Read it at the source
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Moving firewood

Can you bring firewood into Wisconsin?

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

Quarantine

Wisconsin restricts moving firewood, and its agencies ask that wood travel no more than 10 miles.

Firewood brought onto a Wisconsin state park, forest or other DNR land has to come from within 10 miles of the property or be state certified. A separate spongy moth quarantine blocks moving uncertified firewood out of the quarantined counties.

Agency
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
How far wood may travel
10 miles
Certified or treated wood
Heat treated and certified wood may come in
Pests named
emerald ash borer, spongy moth, oak wilt
To prevent the spread of emerald ash borer and other invasive insects and diseases moving in firewood, the DNR developed a permanent rule which prohibits visitors from bringing firewood into Wisconsin state parks and other state-managed lands from locations further than 10 miles away from the property (effective June 1, 2014).
Firewood rules and resources, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, read September 22, 2026. Read it at the source

What the rule says

State properties take firewood from within 10 miles and nowhere further.

To prevent the spread of emerald ash borer and other invasive insects and diseases moving in firewood, the DNR developed a permanent rule which prohibits visitors from bringing firewood into Wisconsin state parks and other state-managed lands from locations further than 10 miles away from the property (effective June 1, 2014).
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

Certified wood is the way around the 10 mile limit.

Treated, pest-free wood from state certified vendors is exempted from this regulation.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

The campground rule reads the same way at the gate.

Campers are reminded that only certified firewood or firewood originating from within 10 miles of the park is allowed into the park.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

A statewide spongy moth quarantine governs which direction firewood may travel between counties.

The quarantine for the spongy moth prohibits the movement of firewood east to west from infested to non-quarantined WI counties.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

Pallets, skids and slabs are never acceptable camp firewood on state land.

Full or partial pallets, skids or slabs. This wood may be fresh enough to harbor pests and has traveled long distances.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

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

  1. Michigan$4
  2. Minnesota$5

Wisconsin firewood permit questions

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Firewood permits in other states

Wisconsin heating oil and propane pricesWhat a gallon costs this winter, and how that compares with a cord.First snow in WisconsinWhen the first measurable snow usually falls, city by city.Wisconsin 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, Chequamegon-Nicolet 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.