© 2024 KRWG
News that Matters.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Personal firewood permits excluded from tree-cutting ban

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — People who rely on firewood from national forests in New Mexico and one in Arizona now can cut and gather it.

A federal judge on Tuesday excluded personal firewood cutting and gathering from a larger ban on timber management activities in all five New Mexico national forests and the Tonto National Forest outside metropolitan Phoenix.

Environmentalists who sued the federal government over the threatened Mexican spotted owl had asked U.S. District Judge Raner Collins to amend the ban. It's been in place since mid-September.

The U.S. Forest Service supported the narrower ban. The agency says permit sales will resume immediately.

Wood is the primary heating source for many residents in rural areas who cannot afford propane and don't have access to natural gas lines.