Moving wood: firewood, chip and quarantine rules

This page describes what official sources say. It is not advice on what to do with a given load. Rules change by area and by pest, and the maps are redrawn.

United States

Federal rules

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) says people spread emerald ash borer over long distances when they move infested ash firewood, logs or nursery stock. See its emerald ash borer page.

APHIS no longer runs a federal quarantine for it. A Federal Register final rule, effective January 14, 2021, removed the domestic quarantine regulations for the pest. The rule says that without federal regulations, states are free to set their own rules on moving emerald ash borer host material into their state. See the Federal Register rule. In practice the rules that remain for ash wood are state rules.

The Asian longhorned beetle is still handled with federal quarantined areas. APHIS lists eradication work in central Long Island in New York, Worcester County in Massachusetts, Clermont County in Ohio and Charleston County in South Carolina. Its page asks people not to move firewood out of quarantined areas. See the APHIS longhorned beetle page.

For spongy moth, APHIS says females lay eggs on many outdoor surfaces, including stacked firewood, and that moving those items moves the eggs. See the APHIS spongy moth page.

State rules

New York is one example of a state rule. Its regulation, 6 NYCRR 192.5, says no person shall buy, sell, possess or import untreated firewood into the state from any location outside it. The same text defines firewood so that it leaves out wood chipped to pieces no greater than 1 inch in two dimensions. The copy linked here is the Cornell Legal Information Institute text, which is a reproduction and not the state's own site.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture says ash material and hardwood firewood may not enter Minnesota from other states without proper certification. See its emerald ash borer page. Other states set their own rules.

Don't Move Firewood

Don't Move Firewood is a public campaign. Its FAQ says it is managed day to day by The Nature Conservancy's Forest Health Protection Program staff. The campaign calls 50 miles "too far" and 10 miles or less "best" as a very general rule of thumb. It says most packaged heat treated firewood with a USDA APHIS or state heat treatment seal is considered safe to move. For brush from tree work, it says chipping on site to use as mulch is a good idea. Its campaign FAQ has the full wording. Its rules map page says firewood rules, regulations and recommendations are different throughout North America.

Canada

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says moving firewood outside a regulated area is prohibited. It says moving firewood from places where regulated pests have been found is a violation of the Plant Protection Act, with penalties of up to CA$50,000 and/or prosecution. It lists two ways to move firewood out of a regulated area: with a CFIA movement certificate for heat treated firewood, or under a compliance agreement. It advises buying wood cut less than 80 kilometres from where it is sold. See the CFIA firewood page.

Emerald ash borer areas

The CFIA's regulated areas page for the pest says moving ash firewood out of a regulated area is prohibited, whether for commercial or private purposes. Non-ash firewood can only leave through facilities registered under its Approved Facility Compliance Program. Regulated items, which include ash logs, branches, wood, bark and ash wood chips, must have a CFIA Movement Certificate when they leave. The page also says moving yard waste out of regulated areas is prohibited, because it may contain ash bark, branches or trimmings. See the CFIA regulated areas page.

Spongy moth

For outdoor items such as campers, trailers and outdoor furniture, the CFIA page says egg masses, larvae, caterpillars and moths must be removed before the items go to an area where the moth is not present. See the CFIA moving across Canada page.

Provincial law

Some rules are provincial. The CFIA firewood page notes that Alberta provincial legislation prohibits the movement of elm wood.

United Kingdom

Plant passports

The government list of goods that need a plant passport for movement within Great Britain includes wood processed from brash, round wood or stumps at harvesting or aggregation sites, including wood chips and sawdust. It also lists conifer and sweet chestnut with bark, and walnut, plane and wingnut with or without bark, plus isolated bark of conifer, sweet chestnut, walnut and wingnut. See the plant passport list. The government says you can issue plant passports yourself only if the Animal and Plant Health Agency or the Forestry Commission has authorised you. See its plant passport guidance.

Oak processionary moth

Oak processionary moth is a quarantine pest. The government page says it cannot be introduced, moved, multiplied or released without prior authorisation. Movement rules for oak trees with a girth of 8 cm or more at 1.2 m depend on the management zone the tree is in. The page names an established area and a buffer zone, and the buffer zone includes an exclusion zone, a 10 km strip at its outer edge. No movement of large oak is allowed from the established area or buffer zone into that exclusion zone. The page also says branch and brash wood is the most likely to carry eggs, so it must not leave the infested area unless absolutely necessary and should stay on site, for example as wood chip. Where arisings do leave, small material must be thoroughly chipped on site first and go to an approved incinerator. The vehicle must be enclosed and washed down afterwards. See the oak processionary moth guidance.

Diseased trees

For trees under a Statutory Plant Health Notice, the Forestry Commission says the notice states whether felled trees must be destroyed on site or can be moved, and on what conditions. It says a movement licence is needed to move diseased timber, and only to a facility that holds a processing licence. Spruce with the bark on must not be moved without permission from a Forestry Commission plant health inspector. See the fell diseased trees guidance.

Australia

Each state and territory sets its own biosecurity rules. The interstate quarantine site says regulations may also apply to the movement of soil, timber, vehicles and machinery, and that conditions differ between states and territories. Its home page says travellers face on-the-spot fines for taking prohibited items across borders. See interstate quarantine for plant goods.

Perth shot-hole borer area

Western Australia has a quarantine area notice for polyphagous shot-hole borer that covers the whole Perth metropolitan region. The notice is in force until 11.59 pm on December 31, 2026. It restricts wood or plant parts cut or removed from a plant that are greater than 2.5 cm in diameter, with exclusions that include wood treated or seasoned for 6 months or more and wood products used for construction, fencing, furniture, packaging or pallets.

The notice also covers wood machinery, meaning any vehicle or equipment used for arboriculture, wood mulching, wood chipping or handling wood. It lists ways restricted wood can leave the area: chipped to pieces under 2.5 cm in diameter, or taken to a waste facility on the department's published list. It says failing to comply could bring a fine, remedial action by the department, or both. The notice says wood taken to a listed waste facility must go in a fully sealed and covered skip bin, trailer or truck. The department's page gives the Pest and Disease Information Service on 08 9368 3080, with an email address on the same page. See the quarantine area notice and the department's borer page.

New Zealand

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) kauri dieback rules are about soil and gear, not wood. MPI says the pathogen is soil-borne and spreads when infected soil moves. Its Auckland page says controlled area notices were made under section 131 of the Biosecurity Act 1993 and that you cannot take footwear, equipment or other items with visible soil into or out of the walking tracks that are controlled areas. See the MPI controlled areas page.

The national plan's rule summary has two rules that touch tree work. Rule 8 says that if you go off track, or onto a track where you will touch the forest floor, you must clean visible soil and organic matter off items that may touch the ground, before you enter and when you leave. It names tools, cars, bikes, sticks, shoes and gloves. Rule 5 says that from August 2, 2023, earthworks within a kauri hygiene zone, three times the radius of the dripline of a kauri canopy, need an earthworks risk management plan. See the kauri rules summary.

At a glance

Country	What is covered	Who to ask
US	State rules, longhorned beetle areas, spongy moth	State agriculture department, APHIS
Canada	Firewood, ash wood and chip, yard waste	CFIA, provincial ministry
UK	Plant passports, oak moth zones, diseased timber	Forestry Commission, APHA
Australia	State rules, Perth borer area	State agriculture department
New Zealand	Kauri soil and gear rules	MPI

For the wider rules on tree work in each country, see safety rules by country.