Firewood

[chasineyes]

After a great weekend up in Jay Cooke this weekend. I realized a couple things. 1)Some roads in MN really suck and some are great! 2)I think the DNR does a great job of running the parks! However what is it with the gouging for firewood? I paid 3.00 for a "bag" at a local grocery store only to find out it was cut up pallets and misc wood with only 2 "real logs". I'm starting to think it's cheaper to go to a local lumber yard and just buy wood and cut it up?? I don't mind supporting the local economy but have some sense of courtesy please. Otherwise I hope everyone else had a great time!!!

[Ryan_V]

i hear you on the firewood. I have about 4 cords of wood that have been cut and split in my woodshed for 5 years or so. When this whole mess started, I had my wood confiscated at a state park before there were any regulations in writing. While I understand they want to try and stop the spread of the ash borer, it was handled very poorly in my case. I have not been back to a state park since, and i don't plan on doing so in the near future. And you're right, with what the gas stations/grocery stores charge, I have enough to retire in my shed!!! I have access to used lumber so I just go get some of that when I'm going somewhere that won't allow firewood.

[upnorth]

We had to dump our firewood once cuz we got it further away than they allow. Further north!!!! Dumb law.

[steamman]

On the state park web site they usually have names and numbers of people that you can buy wood from when staying at a state park. I agree the cost of wood is crazy at the parks. We just got back from Lake Carlos SP and got some wood from a person on the list. Paid 40 for a small trailer full and brought over half of it home. The biggest thing to remember is to get the slip of paper from whomever is dropping it off because they will ask for it.

[Dr Thunder]

$4.00 a bundle at the State Park this weekend! It's a crock. If they really want to encourage people to follow the rules it should be sold for a buck a bundle. How much is a cord worth at $4 when you get 6 or 7 pieces of wood??

Then you are not to transport any that is left over either since that is hauling it past the miles allowed. Leave it there so they can pick it up and sell it again.

[OnAFly]

The worst part is that it's usually birch, so you need ten (ok, maybe exaggerated) bundles to get through a cold night.

[PEATMOSS]

Please read forum policy.

[Ryan_V]

[quote=PEATMOSS

[Duffman]

Sounds like you guys are all in favor of spreading exotic species. It's boneheaded attitudes like that why I now have to worry about losing 6 ash trees in my yard. So quit your belly aching, pony up the cash for some glorified punk wood or find somewhere else to camp where you can cut up your own firewood.

Do you guys really want folks coming up from Ramsey county with thier firewood to camp around your hometown???

[Ryan_V]

I agree we don't want this to spread. Many campgrounds have ash trees for cover/shade. and a campground without trees is a parking lot. But there has to be a better way. My wood is all birch/oak. It was cut from in front of my property when a power line went in. It wasn't dead/dying trees I cut and split. I know my wood is fine, I don't think I should have to pay $20/campfire just for wood, when I know for a fact I've got my own nice CLEAN firewood in my woodshed. they know it only infests live trees, not dead trees, or woodpiles.

[woodsmanmn]

Ryan, do what I did. Go to the DNR and become a certified wood vendor. It's a one page form and it's free. All my wood comes from my land, it's oak, birch, maple and popple. Now I can bring my own wood camping as long as it's within 100 miles of home, and 99% of the time, that's the case.

[PEATMOSS]

Great info woodsman. Thanks for posting that.I'll stop in at the DNR here in Rapids and do just that.

I didn't mean to get everyones skibbies in a bundle with my little comment. I have a degree in Horticulture and taught the subject at the CC level for 11 years, so I know my trees, pests and diseases very well. That being said, my remark was irresponsible in that it may have encouraged others without this knowledge to skirt the law and spread disease. I should not have posted that and I apologize.

[chasineyes]

Sounds like you guys are all in favor of spreading exotic species. It's boneheaded attitudes like that why I now have to worry about losing 6 ash trees in my yard. So quit your belly aching, pony up the cash for some glorified punk wood or find somewhere else to camp where you can cut up your own firewood.

Do you guys really want folks coming up from Ramsey county with thier firewood to camp around your hometown???

Is that a discriminating statement towards Ramsey county? Is it possible that someone who has a cabin brought wood home to burn which may have transfered it to your area? Something tells me this isn't being spread by the casual family camping once or twice a year.

[Ryan_V]

Ryan, do what I did. Go to the DNR and become a certified wood vendor. It's a one page form and it's free. All my wood comes from my land, it's oak, birch, maple and popple. Now I can bring my own wood camping as long as it's within 100 miles of home, and 99% of the time, that's the case.

Already done!! However, at the parks we go to they are not allowing ANY firewood brought in at all. Only dimensional lumber. We don't go to state parks very often. We go to private family campgrounds like Kamp Dels and Keislers..etc. Like I said before, i think it's bull I can't bring in my clean wood, but then again, I don't want to take a chance on spreading anything by breaking the rules, so I've been bringing scrap lumber from construction sites.

[Duffman]

chasineyes....

I didn't mean to come off so snarky, I'm just pointing out where the ash borer's ground zero started out in MN. If I was going to make a guess how it got here, I'd guess some unknowing individual brought home some firewood from an affected area out east. And it probably wasn't campers but somebody who got a deal on some wood from a relative or friend and brought it home to burn in the fireplace.

We're not going to stop the spread of exotics, but we can slow the spread rate down. I fish inbetween 25-30 different bodies of water a year, many with eurasion milfoil. Now I don't have to, but I pull the props off my motors to check and remove any milfoil before heading to a lake that hasn't been infected with milfoil yet. Why do I go thru the added effort? Because I don't want to be the one to bring it to your favorite fishing lake, the lake you vacation on, or the lake you live on.

I figure firewood is the same sort of deal, with just a little added effort, we can slow the spread rate down. You will see more and more firewood restrictions in the future, due to ignorance and honestly, due to folks not giving a rip.

Peatmoss....

No biggie, thanks for the apology. You did get me a little worked up though.

[upnorth]

The rules don't always make sense...the beetle is supposed to be down in the southern part of the state and we live a ways up north. We went to the Temperance State Park, about 120 miles south of here and even tho we had a receipt from a approved vendor in safe area we had to dump ours and buy some at the station. OK if we were from a infected or even close to infected area I could see it, but we were further out of the infected zone than the park is.

[Duffman]

I agree, it's lame. It is what it is, the best way to prevent the spread of tree disease and tree pests into the state parks for as long as possible. Which would you rather pay for? Way overpriced wood or increased taxes and/or fees to pay for the clean-up after the infestation?

[upnorth]

I agree, it's lame. It is what it is, the best way to prevent the spread of tree disease and tree pests into the state parks for as long as possible. Which would you rather pay for? Way overpriced wood or increased taxes and/or fees to pay for the clean-up after the infestation?

Touche'

[woodsmanmn]

Wow, I didn't know they had gotten that strict at the parks. We prefer state forest and national forest campgrounds and have never had a problem.

[SkunkedAgain]

Like I said before, i think it's bull I can't bring in my clean wood

How do you know that your wood is "clean?"

Too many people are confusing the issues here. The main issue from the original post was that certified firewood vendors are price gouging. Somehow this degraded into an argument about the spread of invasive species in our forests.

I think that most people on this forum want to protect the forests. Speak up if you disagree with that one!

Most people are probably even okay with having to buy local "certified" firewood to help prevent the spread of invasive species but they get their undies in a bunch when charged $3-4 for a bundle of cheap wood. I can understand that. However, just because there is a problem with how the state administers this worthwhile prevention program, doesn't mean that people need to bash the reason for doing it.

IMO - If there were more certified firewood vendors then the price competition would bring down the cost. Either way, I think that this thread should focus on how to bring down the cost instead of bashing (what I believe is) a good solution for spreading invasive species throughout our forests.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Right on, Skunked again! Personally, I would rather buy my wood at the park--less to pack in an already tight space. But the prices they charge for sub-par wood is what irks me.

[BLACKJACK]

But the prices they charge for sub-par wood is what irks me.

Thats what torques me off too. We camped at Temperance River last year, bought a few bundles at the park like good little campers, and it was soaking wet!!! It was almost impossible to get lit!!! Luckily I had some boy scout water (charcoal lighter fluid) and 2x4's with me and I could get it started but lots of other campers were sitting there waving at their smoky attempts at a fire. When I called up the park manager and gave him he11 he blamed the vendor. I didn't buy that excuse, I told him he needed to do a better job of quality control!!!!

I feel that if the state parks really want people to follow their rules they need to sell decent wood at a decent price. Otherwise people will cheat and bring in their own wood.

[BLACKJACK]

I now have to worry about losing 6 ash trees in my yard.

Its inevitable that the ash borer is going to spread throughout MN, you should think about cutting 2-3 of those trees down and planting some replacements. That way you won't lose them all at once.

Just don't try to bring those cut up trees into a state park!!!

[BLACKJACK]

Ryan, do what I did. Go to the DNR and become a certified wood vendor. It's a one page form and it's free. All my wood comes from my land, it's oak, birch, maple and popple. Now I can bring my own wood camping as long as it's within 100 miles of home, and 99% of the time, that's the case.

Woodsman, were their any fees associated with this? Do you have to treat the wood before you sell it/use it yourself? That 100 mile radius, is that a fact?? A lot of the parks that we go to are >100 miles away.

One of the things that drives me crazy is that I have a cords and cords of wood at home - and then I have to buy it when we go camping.

[Ryan_V]

How do you know that your wood is "clean?"

.

because we are dealing with the Emarald ASH borer. As I stated before, I have oak and birch in my woodpile, no ash.