New Forest Service firewood permits are now available for purchase.  The annual permit allows firewood cutting April 1, 2017 through March 31, 2018.

The cost of a firewood permit from the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest is $20 for a minimum purchase of four cords. Additional cords may be purchased for $5 per cord up to a total of 12 cords per individual per year.

A cord is the amount of tightly piled wood in a stack four feet high by four feet wide by eight feet long.  The permit allows woodcutters to remove downed timber or to cut down standing dead trees under most conditions in the national forests and grasslands in Montana, northern Idaho, and parts of North and South Dakota, and on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Montana and northern Idaho.  If you plan to gather firewood from other National Forests or lands administered by the BLM, contact that forest or BLM office for their firewood gathering guidelines.

Woodcutters are reminded to be safe while cutting and gathering wood; keep vehicles on designated roads and trails; be sure your chosen location for cutting wood is not within the designated right of way of any major road or interstate; and please don’t drive off designated roads.

For more information, check the firewood permit and the Forest Service’s firewood handout available from agency offices and at www.fs.usda.gov/bdnf.   Beaverhead-Deerlodge NF offices are located in Wisdom, Philipsburg, Butte, Dillon, Ennis, Sheridan, and Wise River.  Permits may also be purchased from Bureau of Land Management offices in Butte and Dillon.  Forest Service and BLM offices are open weekdays, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The following businesses also have permits available to sell: Anaconda: Hardware Hank; Boulder: Hardware Hank; Ennis: True Value Hardware; Sheridan: McLeod Mercantile; Butte: Bob Ward and Butte Ace Hardware; Harrison: Wheat and Thistle General Store: Lima: Ralph’s Exxon; Deer Lodge: I-90 Auto Truck Plaza; Drummond: Fic’s Conoco; and Whitehall:  Ace Hardware.