"Certified" firewood

[Tony Nowak]

The local Menards has firewood bundle that is "USDA approved safe for transport". Looks like 8 pieces, kiln dried, 3/4 cubic foot for $3.99. Is it legal/safe to transport this wood? Local wood is often not very dry.

[Dan Meyer]

I don't know if this firewood is OK to transport. Simplify you life and have one less thing to pack. Buy your firewood at or near the campground.



--Dan Meyer

[Darwin Maring]

Go to Tractor Supply and purchase the pressed sawdust logs.

[Glenn Baglo]

Order split firewood from Amazon, delivered to your site??

[Iowa Dave]

Propane
No problem unless you trip over the hose
Iowa Dave

[Jon in AZ]

Yes,, safe for transport within the US, but probably not international borders. Kiln drying is the ticket. Kills the critters.

I can see it would be worth it in some cases. The stuff sold in campgrounds is often poor quality and at $6-8 bundle, not cheap.

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Tony Nowak

The local Menards has firewood bundle that is "USDA approved safe for transport". Looks like 8 pieces, kiln dried, 3/4 cubic foot for $3.99. Is it legal/safe to transport this wood? Local wood is often not very dry.

Local wood often has bugs and if transported to a new area will spread said bugs. The kiln kills the bugs. Many campgrounds have wood that is from the area and not a problem. But kiln dried is easier to light, burns hotter, has less smoke and should not spread bugs. Some camp grounds do not allow wood "carry ins".

[Iowa Dave]

Bring your 4 lb engineers hammer and three wedges. You can split all you want. I’ll be up in the house watching The Price Is Right.”
Iowa Dave

[Alex Adams]

Go to your local home depot and ask if you can have the lumber scraps.

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Bring your 4 lb engineers hammer and three wedges. You can split all you want. I’ll be up in the house watching The Price Is Right.” Iowa Dave

But I got to old (and lazy) to swing a mall. I picked up a cheap wood splitter and use it for the wood on my boondocking lot. Almost all storm damage stuff. There is a lot of money there if I paid for small bundles.

[AlanKilian]

I've checked the campsites we use here in New England and none of them allow you to bring in any wood products. :-( I think it's silly to not allow kiln-dried wood or lumber, but they make the rules, I use the parks.

They say no campfire wood including lumber off cuts are allowed.

So check with your campsite before bringing kiln-dried firewood or lumber so you know you'll be allowed to use it.

[mary and bob]

Originally Posted by AlanKilian

I've checked the campsites we use here in New England and none of them allow you to bring in any wood products. :-( I think it's silly to not allow kiln-dried wood or lumber, but they make the rules, I use the parks.

They say no campfire wood including lumber off cuts are allowed.

So check with your campsite before bringing kiln-dried firewood or lumber so you know you'll be allowed to use it.

Same with the state parks and private campgrounds that we go to in the Northeast. Some allow you to buy campfire wood locally, others you must buy their wood. We have a company near us that makes roof trusses so they have lots of small scrap pieces that they dump in a pile where anyone can take as much as they want. I'll take a 5 gallon bucket or milk crate full to use to start my fires. Only place I ever was asked if I had firewood with me when we checked in was a State Park in Vermont.

[Jon in AZ]

I suppose the issue is they don’t know how it’s been stored since processing or for how long, and what it might have picked up along the way.

I’m wondering now if the USDA label is simply approval for commercial transport from the place of harvest and processing to the point of sale.

[parmm]

Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Bring Your Own Firewood on Your Next Camping Trip


https://www.bobvila.com/articles/heat-treated-firewood/

[Iowa Dave]

If you’re out on the road camping in the Midwest you’ll see loads of freshly cut logs on about any major highway most days of the week. The firewood question and the rules, guidelines and laws that govern all kinds of wood transport vary greatly state to state, within states(counties) and between managing agencies. There is no uniform policy in our state or in a lot of other states. A few years ago you could transport ash firewood between states to campgrounds if it did not have bark on it. Now this is not allowed. The local purchase is also poorly explained and poorly or not enforced also. Pallet lumber burns great. And it leaves nails all over the place that can be stepped on by park users or driven over with turf mowers, utility vehicles ( used to clean fireplaces) etc. I like a nice wood fire . But smoke, and
odor from the fire is hard on some folks who have respiratory problems. So we have gone mostly to the propane campfire when we are camping. It is disgusting and disappointing to pay for firewood no matter who the seller is, and get wet , uncured, hard to
start, poorly split wood. Real firewood people understand what makes a good wood campfire and sell that product.
Iowa Dave

[Raz]

I heat my home with wood, so having a fire is not that big a deal. Because of Covid I have stayed close to home camping primarily in NFS sites. Where I stay the forest service lets you gather wood. And there are always trees dropped and blocked for safety. You do need a maul to split it. That's one solution to the insect transport problem. Unfortunately fire wood is a revenue source at most campgrounds, typically with inflated prices. If they won't let folks gather fire wood, then if they seriously wish to stop the movement of wood, they should make it not worth transporting.

Years ago we pulled into the NPS campground at Devils Tower. There was a pile of splits with a sign FREE. Good for them

[Iowa Dave]

Lake MacBride State Park, eastern Iowa. This corral is usually full in the spring and filled a few times throughout the season. Free and unmonitored. Probably will be history shortly as jackwagon “campers”, load their pickup on the way out or to their next stop. And so it goes
Iowa Dave

[Jimmy J]

I Think it's more about who has the contract to provide local firewood, rather than protecting the environment. Otherwise there would be no rules that not allow kiln dried or "approved" firewood.

[parmm]

A side note to you baseball fans. The Northern White Ash tree from the New York/Pennsylvania forests , popular with many professional players, has been almost entirely destroyed by emerald ash borer, an invasive insect species native to Asia and first detected in Michigan in 2002. Before the bat billets leave the mills, they are kiln dried which kills the emerald ash borer insect. In some 20 years, that little Asian insect has almost killed the forests that supply the best wood for baseball bats. The insect is spread by transportation before it gets to the wood mills where it is kiln dried and turned into billets. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/spor...-20180614.html Some of that transportation is from Ash Tree scraps being transported for fire wood.

[Gordon in Idaho]

If you try to enter California via I-80 with firewood, it won't go any farther.
That was my experience last spring.
Gordon