Can I cut firewood on my land or on Crown land in BC?

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On your own lot no provincial permit is needed, though local rules can apply; on Crown land you need the district's free firewood permit, for dead or downed trees, for your own use. Trees on your own titled lot are generally yours to cut for firewood (our reading), within any town tree bylaw, streamside, nest or permit area rules. Trees on Crown land are the Province's: cutting them for firewood takes a free personal-use permit from the natural resource district, and the wood can't be sold. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. On your own lot: The Province's firewood permit is for Crown land; cutting on your own titled lot needs none from it (our reading). Local and other rules can still limit it: a town's tree protection bylaw, a regional district's tree cutting permit area, a development permit area, a streamside protection area, nest trees, a covenant on title, or a managed forest commitment. Each is on its own page, linked below. Beside Crown land, find the line: Before anyone cuts or removes timber from private land next to Crown land, they must find out where its boundaries are, and an owner who lets someone else cut must tell them where the boundaries run (Forest and Range Practices Act s. 53). Trees past the line are Crown timber. Crown timber: No one may cut, damage, destroy or remove Crown timber without authority under the Forest Act or another listed law (Forest and Range Practices Act s. 52 (1), (3)). Doing so is an offence with a fine of up to $1,000,000, up to 3 years in prison, or both (s. 87 (1)). The Province says cutting firewood on Crown land without a permit can lead to the wood being taken and charges. The free firewood permit: The Province may issue a free use permit to a person who needs firewood for personal domestic purposes and not for sale (Forest Act ss. 12 (1) (i), 48 (1) (b)). It carries no stumpage or rent, and is for no more than a year and 50 m³ (s. 49 (2)). It isn't usually given where there's enough reachable timber on land you own or occupy (s. 48 (2)). How the permit works: Each natural resource district issues its own, free, through the District Manager: you need one from every district you cut in. Only dead or downed trees may be cut. Carry the permit and its maps, read its conditions before signing, as they differ by district, and show it to a natural resource officer, conservation officer or peace officer who asks. The wood is for your own use and can't be sold; commercial cutting goes through the Small Scale Salvage program (the Province's firewood permits page). Whose land it is: It's up to the permit holder to be sure they're on vacant Crown land, not private land or a First Nations reserve (the Province's page). Inside a woodlot licence, community forest or First Nations woodland licence, a firewood permit needs the licence holder's consent (Forest Act s. 49.1). A neighbour's tree, or one on a road allowance, isn't yours to cut. Moving firewood: The Province warns that moving firewood spreads insects and diseases, and asks you to burn it where you collect or buy it. In the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's emerald ash borer regulated areas, ash wood of any kind (trees, nursery stock, logs, branches, lumber, chips, firewood) can't leave the area without CFIA's written consent, other firewood only through a CFIA-registered facility, and yard waste not at all (CFIA's page, read 2026-10-13). The habitat section of a lot's report says whether the lot is in one of CFIA's regulated areas. What it means for a buyer: A treed rural lot can heat its house for years, but only from its own trees (our reading). Walk the boundaries, find the line on any side that borders Crown land, and check the local rules before clearing. Crown land wood nearby is dead or downed only, by permit, from the district's areas.

Can I cut firewood on my land or on Crown land in BC?

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