Interactive lesson

Woodland for firewood, step by step

Interactive lesson: woodland inventory, felling licence and marking, how much you may cut, choosing trees, coppice, extraction and dangers in the woods.

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The whole lesson as text

1. Get to know your woodland

Before the first felling, walk the woodland with a plan of the boundaries, a pencil and a tape.

Plan and tape — Walk the woodland with the boundary plan, a pencil and a tape. Write down species, age, density, access and damage.
Boundaries first — Check the boundaries on the title plan, with the neighbours and by old marks on trees, banks and ditches. Felling someone else's tree is theft, even by mistake.
High forest or coppice — High forest grows from seed: straight trees with a single stem. Coppice forms when several shoots spring from the stump (the stool) of a felled tree.
Diameter at breast height — Measure thickness 1.3 m (about 4.5 ft) above the ground. It tells you how much wood there is and when a tree is mature.

Why: You can't plan felling in a woodland you don't know. Write down what grows there, how old it is and what condition it's in, and only then think about the saw.

Woods on former military land, wartime airfields or old mining areas can hide unexploded ordnance or open shafts. Check the history of land you don't know (old maps, the previous owner; in the US the Formerly Used Defense Sites list).
Stay on known paths and don't touch suspicious objects: mark the spot and call the police (999 or 112; 911 in the US and Canada).

2. Licence and paperwork

No permission, no felling: ask before you cut, even in your own woodland.

Apply in good time — Ask the forestry authority whether you need a felling licence and apply in spring or early summer. A decision can take three months or more; when November comes, you have permission.
Mark the trees — Mark the trees to fell, with a forester if you can. In the US a state service forester will often walk a woodlot for free.
Only what is licensed, on time — Fell only what is licensed, within the time allowed. Permission doesn't last for ever, and you pay any fees that apply.
Licence and records — Keep the licence and records, and replant if the licence requires it. Felling without a licence or breaking its conditions brings heavy fines, and you can be ordered to replant.

Why: A felling licence, and trees marked with a forester, give the wood a legal origin. The forester also makes sure you don't cut more than the woodland can bear.

Rules differ between England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, between US states and between Canadian provinces, and they change. Ask the forestry authority for the exact steps before every felling.
Buying wood? Ask where it comes from. In North America firewood can carry pests across a quarantine line.