By November, a bare tamarack on a Council District slope looks like a standing snag to anyone with a chainsaw and a quarter cord left to fill. That's why the Payette National Forest bans cutting live Western larch, the tree known locally as tamarack, after November 1 every year.
Larch is a conifer that drops its needles every fall. According to the Forest Service, that leaves too many live trees looking like standing deadwood and getting cut by mistake. The rule is one of several ways the forest's own calendar shapes the last weeks of the 2026 personal-use season, which ends November 30. Around Council, almost every late-season woodcutting decision comes back to fire. Fire decides which burned ground is free to cut, which areas may close for a few days at a time, and where this year's senior firewood came from.
Two Trees Off the List
The tamarack ban is seasonal. The other one is permanent. The Payette's 2026 fuelwood rules prohibit cutting whitebark pine, live or dead, at any time of year. The Forest Service points to the species' decline, its importance to wildlife and its listing as threatened in January 2023.
A few other rules apply year-round:
- No fuelwood cutting in riparian areas next to creeks and rivers.
- No cutting inside closure areas, which are posted on the Payette's alerts page.
- All motorized travel for woodcutting has to follow the current Motor Vehicle Use Map unless the permit says otherwise.
- Avoid wet, muddy roads where driving can damage the ground.
The Forest Products page says to carry your permit, your load tickets in quarter-cord increments and the Payette firewood brochure, and it recommends bringing the MVUM too. The brochure and map show which ground is open. Fall burns can change that week to week, which is the next part of the calendar.
Burn Season Overlaps the Last Weeks of Cutting
On September 14, the Payette announced fall prescribed fire operations, pending all required approvals, that could continue through December as weather allows. The release names four project areas on the Council Ranger District:
| Project area | Distance from Council |
|---|---|
| Mill Creek-Council Mountain | 5 miles north |
| Middle Fork | 10 miles southeast |
| Weasel | 12 miles northwest |
| Huckleberry | 20 miles northwest |
The Forest Service says these areas may close to the public for several days during burns. It asks drivers to watch for warning signs along nearby roads, and to slow down and turn on headlights when they hit smoke. A burn can also be canceled within hours of starting if conditions change. So a cutting spot near Council Mountain that was open on a Tuesday may not be open that Saturday. The Payette's planned fuels treatments map and the Supervisor's Office at 208-634-0700, open Wednesday through Friday, have the latest.
Fire also works in woodcutters' favor. The Payette lists a free-use area in the Lava Fire area on the Council Ranger District. It's one of only two free-use areas on the forest, and the other is in Big Creek on the Krassel Ranger District. The Forest Service doesn't publish the where, when and how of a free-use permit. It asks people to call 208-634-0700 Wednesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon or 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.
This Year's Senior Firewood Came From the Same Pile
The same link between wood heat and wildfire work runs through the program that brought firewood back to Adams County seniors this year. In August, The Record Reporter published the Council Loggers Jubilee's account of how it happened. Mahon Logging, JC Tucker and Marcus Lucas supplied the logs for the Jubilee's contests and then gave the cut rounds to the Adams County Senior Firewood Program. That came to nearly eight cords, enough to restart a service many seniors had relied on for winter heat.
The article credits Jubilee board member Hannah Combs with coordinating the donation and Adams County Emergency Manager Carol Walsh with leading the effort to bring the program back. Funding came through the U.S. Forest Service Resource Advisory Committee. Council District Ranger Paul Klasner made the RAC funding available, and Shared Stewardship Coordinator Brian Davis secured the grant.
The numbers explain why the contest logs were only a start. The program offered up to two cords per eligible resident 65 or older, first come, first served, as supplies allowed. At the full allotment, nearly eight cords covers about four households. The program also drew on wood from wildfire fuels work. By the time Walsh announced in The Record Reporter that applications would close, it was called the Adams County Senior Firewood and Wildfire Fuels Utilization Program. Her notice says it delivered wood from wildfire fuels reduction work as well as community donations. The Jubilee's account also says the county expects future log donations from the Forest Service.
Applications opened in August at the County Clerk's Office in the Adams County Courthouse in Council and closed September 30, 2026. Walsh wrote that the county hopes funding will carry the program into next year, and that 2027 details will be announced once funding and program details are confirmed.
The November Calendar
The last weeks of the season are short on open days at the ranger station. The Council Ranger District office at 2092 Highway 95 lists hours of Wednesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon and 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., and it's closed on federal holidays. That comes from the district's office page, last updated July 13, 2026. The May season announcement listed Monday through Friday, so calling 208-253-0100 before you drive over is a good idea.
| Date | What it means for woodcutting |
|---|---|
| November 1 | No cutting live Western larch for the rest of the season |
| Wednesday, November 11 | Veterans Day; Council City Hall closed, and the federal holiday closes the ranger office too |
| Thursday, November 26 | Thanksgiving; City Hall closed, ranger office closed |
| November 30 | 2026 personal-use fuelwood season ends |
| Through December | Prescribed burns possible as weather allows |
Two of the office's Wednesday-through-Friday days fall on holidays in November. That leaves only a handful of in-person days at the district office before the season closes.
Where to Get a Permit Before It Closes
Permits cost $6.25 a cord. The minimum purchase is four cords for $25, and the maximum is 10 cords per household. The Payette can't sell a two-cord permit. If you want all ten cords, buy them as 5 and 5, as 4 and 6, or all at once. A full ten-cord season costs $62.50, and a 2026 permit is good on the Boise and Sawtooth national forests as well as the Payette.
With the ranger office open three days a week, the seven-day option in town is Farmer's Supply Co-op, 208-253-4266. The Forest Service lists it as a permit vendor open every day from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Blake's Sinclair in Cambridge keeps the same daily hours, and Ridley's Food and Drug in Weiser is open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. You can also buy online through the Forest Service's E-Permits system. Print the permit and the load tag, and have both with you while you gather wood.
The permit rules, closures and free-use details here come from the Forest Service and Adams County. This post is general information, so check your permit's terms and current closures with the Payette National Forest before you head out.
At Two Rivers Real Estate Company, we pay attention to how Council heats its homes and works its land. If you're weighing a place where a woodstove, a woodshed or forest access matters, we can walk the ground with you. Work With Us.
