With autumn upon us it means the firewood collection season has opened to those who rely on wood during the colder months.
From 1 March, firewood collectors in the Greater Melbourne area are now able to top up their stores of wood with 10 firewood collection sites opening to communities in Melbourne’s east. Sites are holding low-to-medium volumes of available firewood.
Across the Yarra Ranges there are a number of sites available to locals, including Wesburn, Powelltown and Toolangi.
Forest Fire Management Victoria Yarra District Manager, Nigel Brennan, said that wherever possible, by-product from planned burn preparation works and other forest operations was being made available for collection.
“VicForests timber harvesting works have left medium volumes of timber by-product that is being made available for firewood at designated collection areas,” he said.
“The remaining natural falls roadside collection areas around the region will continue to provide low firewood volumes for the duration of the collection season until June 30.”
Where possible, some debris from the June and October storms in 2021 may be made available as firewood, either commercially or as local collection.
Firewood can only be taken from designated collection areas in state forests or parks during approved times and for personal use only. Collected firewood cannot be sold.
Collection limits include taking a maximum of two cubic metres per person per day and a maximum of 16 cubic metres per household per financial year. The felling of trees and cutting downed hollow logs for firewood is also prohibited.
Due to limited stock in other areas across the state, new firewood restrictions have been in effect since Tuesday 1 March, restricting access to domestic firewood collection sites in Central Victorian State forests to local residents only.
The new restrictions allow residents of specific Central Victorian shires to collect domestic firewood from Central Victorian designated firewood collection areas.
These changes aim to ensure that Central Victorian communities gain greater access to their available, local firewood into the future.
An interactive map of all Victorian designated firewood collection area locations is available at www.ffm.vic.gov.au/firewood until 30 June.
