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Public-land firewood in Australia and New Zealand: Western Australia permits, New South Wales park policy and the DOC rules

What the Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and the New Zealand Department of Conservation say about collecting firewood on public land.

Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 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. It covers one agency in Western Australia, the park policy in New South Wales and the national land manager in New Zealand. Other Australian states are not covered. For the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland see public land firewood permits.

Western Australia

The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) firewood page says the department regulates the collection of firewood sourced from native timber. Its statements include the following.

  • Where: firewood for use at home can be collected from nominated areas of State forest managed by DBCA in the Perth Hills and the South West, using the maps DBCA provides. Collecting in national parks, nature reserves and conservation parks is not allowed.
  • What: only fallen timber. Cutting down a standing tree, dead or alive, or cutting or breaking off part of a standing tree is not allowed. Logs marked with an H, usually in white spray paint, are habitat logs that are not to be cut.
  • Limits: from June 1 to September 30 a maximum of one tonne may be removed every 60 days. From October 1 to May 31 a maximum of one tonne may be removed on any one occasion. As a guide, half a tonne is approximately a 6x4 trailer loaded 30 cm deep.
  • Chainsaws: not to be used on a day of total fire ban or a day rated Extreme or Catastrophic for fire danger.
  • Perth Hills permit: a permit is needed, valid for one visit only: AU$7.70 for the summer season (November 1 to April 30) and AU$15.40 for the winter season (May 1 to October 31), as the page, last updated April 28, 2026, states them; it names no fee year.
  • South West: no permit is needed, but collection is allowed only in designated areas. Where an area falls in a Phytophthora dieback Disease Risk Area, an approval to enter is required from the local DBCA office.
  • Selling: to sell firewood taken from private property the seller needs a DBCA licence and has to show the wood will be sourced lawfully, for example under a clearing permit or native vegetation clearing exemption with the landowner's written permission. The page points to Regulation 63 under its flora licences.
  • Borer quarantine: the page says a Polyphagous shot hole borer Quarantine Area is in place and firewood cannot be removed from it.

New South Wales

The NSW Environment and Heritage firewood policy for national parks and other reserves was adopted in June 1989 and last updated in September 2020. It states the following.

  • Collecting firewood from within a park to use outside it is prohibited.
  • Collecting timber for firewood is allowed in backcountry areas in any park category, except where a park plan of management or a sign or notice prohibits it, or the collection is for commercial gain or for use outside the park boundary.
  • Firewood collection for domestic use may be permitted in some parks and reserves in the Riverina region.
  • In parks other than nature reserves, the National Parks and Wildlife Service may allow collection where assessed management work has required vegetation removal, in fire advantage or asset protection zones, in designated low-use areas assessed as having no significant ecological impact, or in areas a plan of management marks as suitable. Other areas need a documented assessment of impacts on threatened species and approval from the relevant Director.
  • In designated camping areas the service may supply firewood, from off-park sources that are sustainably managed where possible, and contractors may sell firewood to visitors under licensing arrangements.

The policy gives the reasons: removal of dead wood and dead trees is listed as a Key Threatening Process, around 120 species of animals and birds use tree hollows in New South Wales, and bringing wood into a park can introduce pests and pathogens.

New Zealand

The Department of Conservation (DOC) fire management page says a year-round Restricted Fire Season is in place on public conservation land. During it, fires may be lit at a campsite's designated fire place and in the backcountry under set conditions, and hangi, umu and bonfires, portable fireplaces such as braziers or chimineas using solid or liquid fuels, and similar fires need a permit from Fire and Emergency New Zealand. In a Prohibited Fire Season, lighting a fire in the open is banned on public conservation land, including campground and backcountry fires.

The DOC conservation blog post on hut fireplaces, dated May 6, 2026, says firewood is supplied at some serviced and Great Walk huts, that elsewhere visitors might gather dead wood from the forest, and that it is never appropriate to chop down trees on public conservation land. It says insects, fungi and soil need some dead wood, so "take a bit, leave a bit".

Sources