Preferred fuelwood cutting areas to open in Cd’A Ranger District

COEUR d’ALENE – The USDA Forest Service will temporarily open two additional fuelwood cutting areas on the Coeur d’ Alene River Ranger District, allowing for public personal firewood gathering in order to reduce fuel loads in areas that otherwise may be gated.

The Blue Alder fuelwood area, located in the Wolf Lodge – Fourth of July vicinity, and the White Beaver fuelwood area, on the west side of Beaver Creek, will be open from July 16 to August 5, 2020. Each designated area provides access to multiple preferred fuelwood cutting sites.

Personal firewood cutting will be free to the public for the remainder of 2020, but a free hard-copy use permit is required as of June 1, 2020. To obtain a hard-copy Personal Use Firewood Cutting Permit by mail, contact the Fernan Office at (208) 664-2318 or the Silver Valley Office at (208) 783-2363. Permit forms cannot be downloaded from website at this time. Detailed maps and driving instructions for these preferred fuelwood areas are available on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests homepage at www.fs.usda.gov/ipnf by selecting Firewood Gathering. The electronic maps are supported by the Avenza Maps app.

Blue Alder Fuelwood (Wolf Lodge - Fourth of July vicinity):

•Roads 814 and 1510: This preferred fuelwood area is located on the west side of the district. These two roads are off of Forest Service Road 202 and will be signed for firewood gathering.

•Roads 359 and 413N: This preferred fuelwood area is located on the west side of the district. These two roads are off of Forest Service Road 413 and will be signed for fuelwood gathering.

White Beaver Fuelwood (west side of Beaver Creek vicinity):

•Roads 1586, 933, 957, 933F, 1586H, 1586J, 1586C: This preferred fuelwood area is located on the east side of the district along the west side of the Beaver Creek drainage and is accessed by Forest Service Road 933. These roads will be signed for fuelwood gathering.