Firewood Collection

Armchair beside a fireplace

Community members are allowed to collect firewood on permitted Indigo Shire Roads, with a permit, at certain times during the year.

The firewood collection season is currently closed and will remain so until 1 March 2025.

Roadside firewood is an affordable fuel source but these benefits need to be balanced with risks including:

  • Impacts to biodiversity: road reserves are important habitat for native species, and fallen dead logs provide habitat for native fauna.
  • Spread of weeds: inadequate weed hygiene practices can result in the spread of weeds from one road reserve to other areas where the weed might not have been established.
  • Occupational health and safety risks to people collecting firewood, e.g. through operating chainsaws.
  • Traffic hazards from vehicles and people operating the road reserve.
  • Amenity impacts to residents adjacent to the collection area.

Only Indigo Shire residents with a permit are eligible to collect firewood from permitted roads within the Indigo Shire Council area

Which roads can I collect firewood from?

If you are an Indigo Shire resident you can apply for a permit to collect firewood for personal use only. Firewood can only be collected from roads included on the permitted roads list below.

Collection is NOT ALLOWED on roads managed by Regional Roads Victoria (RRV). To view the roads managed by Regional Roads Victoria, click here.

Roads not listed below contain vegetation with critical and high conservation value and firewood collection is prohibited.

View the list of permitted roads 

Authorised Council officers will assess each application taking into consideration other works that may be going on at the time. No firewood collection will be permitted on roads that are classified as high or critical conservation value.  

How do I get a permit and how much does it cost?

Please apply for your firewood collection permit by completing our Firewood Collection permit application form.

  • Please allow five business days for your permit to be processed
  • You will need to include the specific roads and sections that you propose to undertake the collection on, please refer to our table of permitted roads.
  • Only Indigo Shire managed roads are applicable to firewood collection applications.
  • Only Indigo Shire residents are eligible to apply
  • If you are completing a hard copy form, you can submit it to info@indigoshire.vic.gov.au or in person at one of our customer service centres.

Permit Fees

  • Standard: $27.45
  • Pensioner: $16.90

 

When are firewood collection seasons?

Firewood collection seasons are usually:

  • 1 March to 30 June
  • 1 September to 30 November

However, the opening and closing dates may be modified based on conditions and consultation with the CFA.

DELWP also offers designated firewood collection areas on crown land, check the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) website for further information.

 

 

Community firewood access

From time to time our operations team clears trees that are suitable for firewood, as a result the Indigo Shire has established a Community Woodlot. The Community Woodlot has been operating since 2007 in partnership with the Beechworth Correctional Centre to provide a source of low-cost firewood for Indigo Shire pensioners and concession cardholders.

Due to prisoner team time constraints it is difficult to facilitate distribution over the whole of the Shire area and direct delivery is not guaranteed.  However recipients can arrange for collection from those depots where the wood is prepared.   If you are part of a community organisation that would like to assist in helping with the distribution of wood within your local community, please contact us.

 

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