Many folks harvest firewood from their own woodlots, using the activity to thin out lower quality trees, thereby improving the forest. People who don’t own forestland purchase wood from firewood dealers, loggers and, for small quantities, convenience stores or roadside stands. Wood is purchased log-length (8’-16’); tree length (over 16’); cut-to-length; cut and split, and green or dry. Obviously, the more the wood is processed, the higher its price.

Many firewood dealers purchase wood from loggers. Often the firewood dealer is a logger who harvests wood from his/her own wood lot. Others purchase stumpage or cutting rights from landowners, who have many reasons for wanting to harvest timber, including forest improvement, agriculture, development or a view.

Harvesting may occur in conjunction with a timber sale, where higher-value logs are sold to a sawmill to be processed into lumber or to a veneer facility for even higher value.

Regardless, timber harvesting is an activity regulated by law. The N.H. Division of Forests and Lands, the N.H. Department of Revenue Administration and the N.H. Department of Environmental Services all have laws that pertain to timber harvesting. If you have questions about these laws, call the UNH Cooperative Extension forester in your county.

At times, pulp mills or paper mills that use low-quality wood may provide a more lucrative and convenient market for loggers, reducing the supply to the firewood markets and increasing the price for firewood consumers. Bad weather and muddy logging conditions can also upset the wood markets. Poor conditions for logging and competitive pulpwood pricing this year have resulted in a scarce and expensive firewood supply.

Street trees and other trees that grow in more urban settings often decline due to the harsh growing conditions. Some communities take down these trees and process them into firewood, which they make available to community members. Professional arborists, who remove hazard trees and unwanted yard trees in the course of their work, also often process and sell the trees they cut as firewood.

Used pallets provide another source of firewood. Because pallet manufacturers are the largest consumer of hardwood lumber in the United States, recycling pallets and pallet parts has become big business. Unfortunately, not all pallets get recycled. Yet, cut-up pallets make great hardwood kindling. If you do use pallets or other scrap wood in your home heating appliance, make sure the wood has not been pressure-treated or contaminated by paint or unknown spilled liquids.

By Sarah Smith, UNH Extension Professor/Specialist, Forest Industry