With temperatures cooling off its time to start thinking about fuelwood for your stoves and fireplaces. The Forest Service is now selling fuelwood permits now through Nov. 30 2022 for the Manti La Sal National Forest area. Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Public Affairs Officer, Samantha Stoffregen to talk about the details.
“So each of our offices, to include our Supervisor Office here in Price, are authorized to sell wood permits and these permits are required for you when you want to go on to the forest to gather wood. They are good for the minimum of a four-cord purchase, at $5.00 a cord, so it’s $20.00 for these four cords. One cord is approximately 2,662 pounds of wood or roughly a full bed on a truck if you filled that up with wood,” stated Stoffregen. There is a ten-cord maximum limit per household. These permits are only good for the Manti La Sal National Forest area. Part of the permit is a map that is distributed along with the permit so that you know the areas that you are able to gather wood from.
The Forest Service encourages those interested in gathering firewood to do so now and now wait till the deadline. “They are on sale through November 30. What we do ask is if you are interested in getting a wood permit, go now or next week. Don’t wait till the Friday before the deadline when you want to go out and gather wood, and our front desk folks are slammed, you’re stuck waiting, there’s frustrations, and heaven forbid the systems go down because we all love technology. Plan ahead, grab it now, and be set for the year,” said Stoffregen. Manti La Sal National Forest offices are open to the public and permits are available in person or over the telephone. If you do order a permit over the telephone, please allow for 7-10 business days to receive it by mail.
Permits can be obtained at the Forest Service office is located at 599 West Price River Drive. “They are $5.00 a cord, and there is a four-cord minimum purchase, and a ten-cord maximum available per household. Our offices are open from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday,” said Stoffregen. Interested individuals that would like to purchase permits over the phone can call the office at (435) 636-3561. Online purchases are not available.