The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is reminding residents that the state’s firewood permit is now available for purchase. The $20 permit allows people to collect deadwood from state-managed land for personal use and is valid for 90 days.
The DNR measures wood by cords, which is a stack of wood that is four feet in both width and height. The typical limit is five cords, but the DNR is allowing citizens can collect 10 cords from areas that were heavily affected by the devastating ice storm.
Here are the 12-county emergency areas:
- Alcona County
- Alpena County
- Antrim County
- Charlevoix County
- Cheboygan County
- Crawford County
- Emmet County
- Mackinac County
- Montmorency County
- Oscoda County
- Otsego County
- Presque Isle County
People can collect wood from downed trees, but are prohibited from collecting any wood from trees “that are/appear dead but are still standing.” The DNR said in a news release that all wood must be collected at least 200 feet away from any roads.
The permit is not limited to where an individual live at. People can harvest wood in any county as long as the permit is registered there.
"When you go and purchase your permit, they will ask you for which county do you want that permit to apply to," DNR Timber Sales and Wood Utilization Program Manager Brenda Haskill told WCMU. "You can live anywhere in the state and get a permit for whichever county that is where you want to go to."
However, Haskill says that bringing wood from different parts of the state can increase the amount of invasive species in the area where the wood is brought.
She also urged people to take extreme caution when collecting wood from areas damaged by the storm.
"We really want people to be very aware of what's overhead of them up above," Haskill said. "Any amount of wind, there is constant debris falling. We do not want anyone to get hit from above just because they didn't realize they should have looked up."
Michiganders can get a permit but filling out the applications online, visiting one of the DNR centers or mailing the application to the DNR station that manages the state forest where people want to collect from.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is a financial supporter of WCMU. We report on them as we do with any other organization.
