Top 6 Reasons to Purchase Firewood from the Campground and Why It's Important

You've made it. You arrived at the campground and you're setting up camp. As the tents go up, the RV parked, and as you reach for that evening libation - you get a chill. It's time to set up a fire but you don't have any wood. Don't worry, most campsites offer bundles for you to purchase. Now, you might be thinking, "I just cut down a tree last year and my wood is fine" or "I'm spending all this money for camping, why do I have to purchase their wood".

There are plenty of reasons and most have to do with conservation and forest protection:

1) If you move wood from area to another you may introduce invasive species to that new area. When you travel long distances and bring these pests with you they could move more in that one trip than in a decade or century.

2) Check your local conservation department for any quarantines or restrictions for moving firewood. Just because it "looks fine" doesn't mean there aren't any critters living in it.

3) According to Missouri Department of Conservation, there is a 50 mile quarantine for firewood in Missouri. So that means if you have wood you can bring it within 50 mi of where it was harvested.

4) The most active time for pest to emerge from wood is during the spring and summer times. So if you did bring wood and didn't check regulations, that's ok. Just hurry up and start your fire so you can burn it and keep any pests from emerging.

5) There is wood that is heat-treated. This means that they heated the wood up to 140F for 60 minutes and this kills any creatures that might be living in there. You will know it was treated because it has a stamp with a USDA shield.

6) If you end up purchasing wood from the campground and you have some left over, just leave it for the next guest. It isn't worth the risk of taking it with you and introducing pests to your area.

Source: "Firewood Q&A" Missouri Department of Conservation. https://mdc.mo.gov/firewood-qa,. Accessed 1 March 2022.