Umpqua National Forest

Special Forest Products

Introduction

We are pleased to have this opportunity to share with you information about the expanding special forest products program on the four ranger districts of the Umpqua National Forest.

We hope this information will make it easier for you to use these products for personal, commercial and scientific purposes. We ask that you follow the standards and guidelines available at each Umpqua Forest office. These standards have been designed to maintain these resources for future generations.

The term "Special Forest Products" applies to forest resources that are not associated with timber sale contracts. Hundreds of these products are currently used in thousands of ways, and new uses for these products are being discovered every day. Uses range from strawberries, huckleberries, and mushrooms for personal consumption to commercial uses such as decorative plant arrangements, landscaping plants, Christmas wreaths, plants with medicinal properties, and for scientific or commercial research purposes.

A large variety of products are currently being harvested on the Umpqua. Some of the more common products that we sell are Christmas trees; firewood; evergreen boughs for wreaths and other decorations; decorative greenery such as salal; mushrooms; posts, poles and rails for fencing; live transplants (conifer trees, vine maple, and others); beargrass (for decorative arrangements); prince's pine (medicinal and flavoring); and dry cones (decorative arrangements).

We occasionally sell other products such as burls, fiddle head ferns, quinine conk, burly/knobby lodgepole posts & poles for rustic furniture, and a variety of other products that can be removed in a sound, ecological manner.

Permits

A permit must be obtained prior to removing most forest products. As part of issuing a permit, the customer is informed of appropriate precautions, laws, regulations and other standards pertaining to the particular product. These instructions will help our customers remove the product in the most ecologically sound manner. The permit process provides forest managers with the means to track demand for products, the amount of products removed from the forests, and to protect resources.

Most product permits require payment of $20 (the minimum charge) or more depending on the amount purchased and market value of the product being harvested. Product prices depend on the availability of the product and are based on a percentage of the fair market value.

Free use permits are available for non-commercial amounts of most special forest products for personal use. These permits are for amounts that are more than "incidental" amounts and less than the amount that can be purchased for the minimum $20 charge permit. Each person is allowed only $20 in free use permits during any one calendar year. Availability of free use permits depend on the amount wanted and the product desired.

Restrictions

Special products cannot be removed from campgrounds; special use permit areas (resorts, summer home areas, etc); other developed sites (office buildings, housing, etc.); from designated wildernesses; within 150 feet of streams, lakes, and wet areas; or other areas as described on your permit.

Not all products are available on all four ranger districts on the Umpqua.

Permits must be obtained at the ranger district office for the harvest area. Firewood permits for the Diamond Lake Ranger District can be obtained at ranger district offices in Cottage Grove, Tiller, and Glide. Firewood from other districts must be purchased at those districts.

Christmas tree permits can be obtained at any forest office. Permits can be obtained through the mail for some products.

Where to get a permit

If you wish to obtain Special Forest Products, please contact any of these offices. Please call ahead to make certain that someone will be available to help you before you drive to a forest office to purchase a permit.

• Supervisor's Office 2900 NW Stewart Parkway, Roseburg, OR 97470, 541/672-6601
• Cottage Grove Ranger District, 78405 Cedar Park Road, Cottage Grove, OR 97424, 541/767-5000
• North Umpqua Ranger District, 18782 North Umpqua Highway, Glide, OR 97443, 541/496-3532
• Diamond Lake Ranger District, 2020 Toketee Ranger Station Road, Idleyld Park, OR 97447, 541/498-2531
• Tiller Ranger District, 27812 Tiller Trail Highway, Tiller, OR 97484, 541/825-3100

Permit by Mail

Permit form in printable Adobe Acrobat pdf format (167k)