MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. — Personal-use firewood permits are available for free from the Mendocino National Forest for the 2022 season.

Visitors can request a permit in person at the Upper Lake Ranger District station and at the forest headquarters office in Willows.

The Upper Lake and Willows offices have limited hours. Visitors should check the schedule before planning a trip to the office. The front office schedule is posted to the website at https://go.usa.gov/xzXkc.

Permits are also available by mail. Download a firewood permit request form at http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/mendocino/firewood and follow the mail-in instructions. Please allow three weeks to receive the permit tags and a map of cutting areas on the forest.

A third-party authorization form to allow another person to cut wood for the permit holder is also available upon request.

It is illegal to remove firewood from the forest without a valid permit.

All firewood removed from the forest must be dead and already on the ground. The maximum length for a piece of wood to be removed is 6 feet.

A cord of wood is a well-stacked pile measuring 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet. A chart with truck bed sizes and approximate cord capacity is available online at https://go.usa.gov/xH38E.

Firewood collected within Lake and Mendocino counties is subject to state and federal quarantines to limit the spread of the sudden oak death pathogen.

Firewood taken from these counties can only be transported into other sudden oak death quarantined counties, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Marin, Monterrey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma and Trinity.