Taskforce Ironbark aims to detect and disrupt illegal firewood operations, raise awareness about sourcing firewood lawfully, and promote responsible firewood consumption.
Police say that you can help combat illegal firewood removal and protect parks and forests by purchasing your firewood responsibly this winter.
Some of the rules are:
You can only collect firewood from designated collection areas in state forests during the autumn and spring domestic firewood collection seasons.
You can collect wood from trees and branches that are already on the ground, are further than 20 metres from a waterway or waterhole, are not visibly hollow, and do not have moss or fungi growing on them.
When collecting, you can use small equipment, like a chainsaw, axe, or handsaw.
You can collect two cubic metres of firewood per person per day.
To find out more go to www.vic.gov.au/sourcing-firewood
Report suspicious sellers or firewood theft by calling 136 186.
Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/wood-tree-firewood-a-pile-of-wood-3158428/
