Handy tips for collecting firewood

As the nights get cold­er, noth­ing is as com­fort­ing as set­tling down in front of a crack­ling fire.

The only prob­lem is that buy­ing wood from the hard­ware shop or get­ting a deliv­ery from the local wood yard can be expensive.

No-one will mind if you just col­lect a bit for free in a nation­al park, right?

Wrong.

It’s ille­gal to take wood from nation­al parks and reserves, even if the wood is dead or fallen.

If you are caught, you face fines of up to $10,000 or impris­on­ment for 2 years. You can also have your equip­ment seized. In the past, rangers have con­fis­cat­ed chain­saws and oth­er gear from peo­ple caught ille­gal­ly tak­ing wood in parks.

The same goes for all pub­lic land, includ­ing reser­voir and for­est reserves.

Why are dead trees and fall­en wood so important?

Dead trees and fall­en branch­es pro­vide vital habi­tat for a range of native species, includ­ing birds, pos­sums, rep­tiles, insects and even oth­er plants and fungi.

Tree holes and hol­lows in par­tic­u­lar are extreme­ly impor­tant, but they can take many years to form.

Once they do, they pro­vide nest­ing and sleep­ing places for brush-tailed pos­sums, goan­nas, and birds such as yel­low-tailed black cock­a­toos, kook­abur­ras and rosellas.

Some native bird species can­not breed with­out the right sort of holes or hol­lows to nest in, so the reduc­tion in the num­ber of old trees in the land­scape has had a seri­ous impact on their numbers.

Fall­en wood can also pro­vide hid­ing places and food sources for small ani­mals such as echid­nas, bats, dun­narts, pygmy pos­sums, geck­oes and oth­er lizards.

As cli­mate change places more stress on nat­ur­al envi­ron­ments, it’s more impor­tant than ever to pro­tect the habi­tats that help wildlife sur­vive and adapt. Some­thing as sim­ple as leav­ing fall­en wood where it is can make a big difference.

Stay in the know: Sign up to get updates from DEW, straight to your inbox!

Fire­wood and the environment

Wood fires are a cosy win­ter tra­di­tion, but they’re not the clean­est way to stay warm. Burn­ing wood releas­es smoke and green­house gas­es, which con­tribute to air pol­lu­tion and cli­mate change. To reduce your impact:

• Burn dry, well-sea­soned wood – it burns hot­ter and cleaner
• Use an effi­cient wood heater that meets cur­rent emis­sions standards
• Only light fires when you real­ly need them – and keep them small.

Even small changes can help low­er emis­sions and keep local air clean­er through winter.

Where can I col­lect firewood?

There are a few ways to col­lect fire­wood legally:

• By agree­ment on pri­vate land. Know some­one with a rur­al prop­er­ty with lots of trees? If you ask nice­ly, they might let you help your­self to some dead wood.
• On some road verges, if you have a per­mit from the coun­cil. Check with the coun­cil to find out their pol­i­cy on fire­wood collection.
• In some ForestrySA plan­ta­tion forests, but only by agree­ment with the ranger.

Still unsure? Con­tact your local coun­cil regard­ing the removal of trees on pri­vate prop­er­ty or your local land­scape board for fur­ther information.