Tree waste rules in Alaska: burn permits, the April to August fire season and brush pile limits

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry burn permit pages, and the division's compilation of Alaska Statutes chapter 41.15 and 11 AAC 95 (the regulation text carries a June 2, 2019 effective date). The Department of Environmental Conservation refused automated access on October 9, 2026, so its rule 18 AAC 50.065 is described only as the division's pages quote it.

When a permit is needed

According to the Division of Forestry burn permit page, burn permits are required in Alaska from April 1 to August 31, statewide unless a stricter local or federal permit covers the area. Statute AS 41.15.050 sets that period as the fire season and lets the commissioner prohibit fires or allow them only by permit at other times when fire danger would unduly increase. Under 11 AAC 95.412 a person must be 18 or older to get a permit, must have it at the burn site and show it on request to a division employee, a peace officer or the local fire department.

No permit is needed for a burning device of approved manufacture, for a continuously attended cooking, warming or signalling fire of paper and untreated wood less than three feet across and two feet high, or for burning under a valid local government permit.

Small scale and large scale permits

A small scale permit under 11 AAC 95.414 is required for a burn barrel, up to one acre of mowed lawn under four inches high, or a pile of natural materials less than 10 feet across and less than four feet high.
A small scale permit is valid for the calendar year, allows only one burn at a time, and carries terms on a firebreak, supervision until the fire is out, tools and water on hand and piles away from structures and utility lines.
A large scale permit under 11 AAC 95.416 is required for burning larger or more complex than that. The division's page names agricultural parcels, land clearing and logging operations, and says extra equipment and a site visit may be required.
Permits can be denied, suspended or revoked, and the commissioner may suspend all permits in an area for high temperature, low humidity, wind or existing fire activity. An emergency burn closure goes further and bars all open burning in the closed area, campfires included.

What may be burned

The division's frequently asked questions page says only "natural materials" may be burned, which 11 AAC 95.495 defines as recently living plant matter including stumps, branches, logs, litter, grass, untreated lumber, paper and cardboard. It says a yard debris fire is a debris pile needing a small scale permit, and that winter rules under 18 AAC 50.065 ban black smoke from asphalt, rubber, plastics, tars and oils without written approval.

Penalties

In the division's statutes and regulations compilation, AS 41.15.140 makes a knowing violation of the permit and fire rules a class A misdemeanor, and a violation without a culpable mental state a violation punishable by a fine. AS 41.15.150 makes criminal burning of forested land in the first degree a class B felony, and AS 41.15.155 makes the second degree a class C felony. AS 41.15.160 allows recovery of double damages in a civil action.

For other places see the table on tree waste and chip rules. A Western state with a different approach is on the Washington page.