Moving firewood in Michigan: quarantined-area imports, proposed exterior quarantine and lakeshore rules
What the Don't Move Firewood state summary and two National Park Service lakeshore pages say about firewood in Michigan: imports from quarantined areas, the proposed statewide heat-treatment rule and park firewood policies.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 8, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The state rules below are as the Don't Move Firewood summary reports them, and the park rules are from the National Park Service pages. The state's own rule text is not quoted here.
State rules as summarized
According to the Don't Move Firewood Michigan summary, marked accurate as of May 2026, it is illegal to bring firewood into Michigan from areas quarantined for Asian longhorned beetle, thousand cankers disease, balsam woolly adelgid, hemlock woolly adelgid or mountain pine beetle, unless the firewood is certified, heat-treated firewood. It says that in many cases federal law also bars moving untreated firewood out of Michigan because of the spongy moth infestation, and that spotted lanternfly was detected in Oakland County, so firewood should not be removed from that area.
- The summary lists the state's guidelines as using certified, heat-treated firewood, or firewood from where it will be burned, ideally within 10 miles.
- It says Michigan State Parks asks visitors to buy heat-certified firewood sold in the parks, or heat-treated firewood, and otherwise firewood sourced within 10 miles of the park.
- It reports that the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has proposed a statewide exterior firewood quarantine, which would require firewood entering the state to be certified as heat-treated at 60 degrees C (140 degrees F) for at least 60 minutes.
- It says firewood from Canada into the United States and from the United States into Canada is prohibited unless labeled and certified heat-treated.
The summary links a state invasive species news item on the proposal dated January 9, 2026; the proposal's terms and status are not reported here beyond what the summary says.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
The park's Sleeping Bear Dunes firewood page says the lakeshore's policy allows firewood only from approved vendors. It says approved vendors sell firewood treated to reduce pests, or wood from less risky tree species, marked as approved, and that USDA-certified firewood is also allowed in campfires. Bundles are sold in the campgrounds for US$10, and the two firewood sheds are at Platte River Campground between loops 2 and 3 and at D. H. Day Campground near site 81. For visitors who brought unapproved firewood, the page lists voluntary steps: keep it in the vehicle, carry it straight from the vehicle to an active fire, and burn all of it.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
The park's Pictured Rocks firewood and campfires page says visitors in the three drive-in campgrounds must buy wood locally and bring it to the campsite, and that ash firewood is banned in the park to prevent the spread of emerald ash borer. It says collecting wood is not allowed in the drive-in campgrounds. In certain backcountry campsites only down and dead wood on the ground may be collected, with no cutting of standing trees or limbs, and driftwood may be used if it is not removed from the park.
For other states and provinces see the table on moving wood and firewood. Wisconsin and Indiana border Michigan: see moving firewood in Wisconsin and moving firewood in Indiana.