Protect Wisconsin’s Forests And Trees By Not Moving Firewood

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) urges residents and visitors to help protect the state’s trees where you live, play or camp by not transporting firewood long distances.

Firewood can carry tree-killing insects and diseases such as emerald ash borer or oak wilt which can emerge at your destination to attack trees there. By using local firewood, you avoid moving pests to new places.

To reduce the risk of introducing pests and diseases to Wisconsin parks and other properties, state campgrounds only allow firewood from within 10 miles, firewood that is state certified and treated to eliminate pests, or clean, untreated dimensional lumber scraps.

You can purchase firewood in or near almost every Wisconsin state park or forest property. For time and location of firewood sales at a state campground, select a property from the DNR webpage here. Once a property is selected, look for the section titled “Camping at …” at the bottom of the page.

If you do not know where to get local firewood, check Firewood Scout for a list of vendors near your home, cabin or camping destination.  Firewood aged two summers or kiln dried will be dry enough to be free of pests and diseases, is lighter to carry and produces the least amount of smoke.

Be aware that it is illegal to move firewood from eastern Wisconsin across the gypsy moth quarantine line into the non-quarantined, far western counties or Minnesota. This pest is established in the eastern two-thirds of the state, and the quarantine on firewood is part of the effort to delay its establishment further west. 

For a map of the quarantine in Wisconsin and regulation rules, visit the gypsy moth quarantine webpage [exit DNR]. You can legally move firewood within the quarantined counties or from non-quarantined to quarantined counties.   

For more information on transporting firewood, visit the DNR's firewood webpage.