Is it legal to cut wood in California?

[Sammakesbows]

I read somewhere that cutting wood in California is illegal except on your property. Is it true? I live near plenty of patches of forest(idk what they are called) Some are parks and others are just public land that was left alone due to the presence of a creek or spring or something (If they run into a natural body of water, they leave the area around it alone.

[Pat B]

Contact the state and federal forestry service to see about wood cutting permit.

[BAfromPA]

As far as I know there is no state which allows anyone to cut trees down without some form of permission. On the upside, almost every arborist, tree service, and road crew I have ever asked about bow wood has been awesome about it.

[Hamish]

Under the  Bruce Cockburn law, "If a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear it?"Its only illegal to cut down a tree if you get caught, otherwise its perfectly legal:)

[Tommy D]

I read somewhere that cutting wood in California is illegal except on your property. Is it true? I live near plenty of patches of forest(idk what they are called) Some are parks and others are just public land that was left alone due to the presence of a creek or spring or something (If they run into a natural body of water, they leave the area around it alone.

Just remember whatever tree you do cut “May contain substances know to the State of California to cause Cancer and Birth Defects or other reproductive harm” !!

[Hamish]

There's your legal defence, if you get caught. You were doing it to save the people of California, from cancer and birth defects. They should be giving you a medal. Alternatively you could wait until they disband the police, then its open slather on trees.

[BAfromPA]

Alternatively you can just get permission. Theft is wrong. I can almost squint and cock my head to see how you can say that state/federal land belongs to all of us etc. but if everyone goes hog wild we won't have trees in any of our public places left. Besides, you might make a mistake on exactly where the border to the park is and be trespassing and destroying private property.

[Dances with squirrels]

Call the local forestry service. I did, and while I was denied permission to cut on the state property they were in charge of, they put me in contact with a landowner who they were providing services for, who was very friendly and let me cut osage on his farm.

[HH~]

Bwaahahahaha. Only legal to burn it after its been turned in to lumber! Better yet, when you've built something with it then then Google Army can come torch it.

HH~

[Eric Krewson]

This a touchy subject for me, so many guys steal wood and seem proud of it, I find this very disturbing.

You can do the leg work and get permission to cut, you may have to produce a "thank-you" bow, money or a case of beer for the land owner but you can get permission to cut. It has been my experience that once you deal with a landowner as an honorable man (something they don't see often) it opens the door for more wood than you can handle.

[HH~]

Of what value is a few HHBs or Hedge Apple? Little or none.

Building a bow with 100hrs in it plus wood storage time, hauling , cutting , splitting, peeling, building..... yep bout $600 in time and effort.

Why most folks have no clue say “ just build me a bow”. They shoot it a couple times and fall outta love cuz their china made $100 bow shoots faster.  Better to trade a few hours muscle work in trade for few gnarled up trees.

Paying for wood..... not happening. Trade for it OK


HH~

[Sammakesbows]

This a touchy subject for me, so many guys steal wood and seem proud of it, I find this very disturbing.

You can do the leg work and get permission to cut, you may have to produce a "thank-you" bow, money or a case of beer for the land owner but you can get permission to cut. It has been my experience that once you deal with a landowner as an honorable man (something they don't see often) it opens the door for more wood than you can handle.

I wont cut wood unless if i know that i can or its a branch that people left behind or fell over. I see plenty of these in a nearby urban forest.

[wstanley]

Go to FS land and walk far enough out so no one will see you. Bam there ya go. FS will not issue you a permit to cut any green tree. As long as your not stealing logs headed for the mill - no one will blink an eye. Make sure there are no tree huggers around you ; )

[DC]

I went to our Forestry people to try and get a permit to cut some Yew. You wouldn't believe it. Apparently in BC it's illegal to cut marshmallow sticks. You can't cut anything. I knew there was a dead standing Yew in one spot so I asked if I could cut that. He said probably but he wanted a picture and a GPS location. I hiked all the way back in and did what he requested and took it back. He took a look and said he would e-mail me. never heard from him again. About a week later I was having coffee with my brother in law and his friend. Turns out his friend is the retired head manager of the Forestry here, I asked him about and he said,"Just cut it, nobody cares." Yew has no commercial value, it gets stacked and burned or left to rot but the law is the law and a government official can't advise against it and keep his job. But be prepared to lose your truck if some overly officious agent had worms in his cereal that morning.

[wstanley]

Thats right DC. Here is these United States on Federal land you technically cant take anything without a permit. So all of you who pocketed an arrowhead on a trail give it back or your going to jail ; ) Your not stealing or doing anything wrong by cutting something down on public land. Now if your hacking down a Sequoia in Sequoia NP (not sure why you would because its worthless for bows, but you get my point) then your going the wrong direction. Our Forests are overgrown in CA - just cut it down. Maybe walk a dozer line/fuel break and you'll be removing much needed vegetation. Now for your local city park that will get you in trouble.

Ten years under my belt working on FS land in CA. Just go for it. Be picky and thankful for your stick and that's all you gotta do. IMO