http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=18298
Quote from report:
"Their were signs posted before entering that forest North of French Gulch stating to keep out during the evening (Night) and cut firewood only during daylight hours. I hadn’t been their for so many years and wanted to experience what I remembered as an teen, but I sure wouldn’t have if I had known what I would have encountered that night."

My question:
Has anyone ever seen signs like this that forbid people to chop wood at night or that tell people to keep out of an area at night?

ohio_squatcher

I've seen signs posted areas that are open for gathering firewood, but don't remember specifically if they gave only certain hours it would be allowed.. However.. I can see reasons why that might be the case, and it's probably not what you're thinking.

During the summer months, when humidity is very low in that area of the country, I use to live in Medford, OR only about 150 miles north of the area reported, there is a real danger of starting forest fires either by using chain saws or axes and hand saws. Chainsaws of course can emit sparks from their exhaust system, and axes and hand saws can create a spark if it hits some rocks or possibly a nail or wire of a fence imbedded in a tree trunk or branch. Even a small spark as these, can literally start a forest fire pretty quickly when everything is dry. At least if using such tools during the daytime, you'd be aware if a spark caused the beginning of a fire by seeing smoke. At night the smoke may not be visible, and the fire simply smolder for some time before emitting flames.

The other thing is personal safety, there are some silly people out there that will go collect and cut firewood on their own, without any assistance or someone along for those "Just In Case" moments. It would be much easier to find a victim during the daylight, then trying to locate them in the dark of night. For instance if they could only get the vehicle within a quarter mile of the firewood site, the other person goes for help. By the time the other person returns with help, the victims flashlight has died, and the other person doesn't really remember where he was parked or what direction he walked in or back out from. Of course the victim has now lost so much blood, he's lost conciousness and is of no help to himself or anyone else.

I havent seen any signs that mention wood-chopping, but around here we do have some state wildlife areas that close at dusk. These are mostly state parks and such.

I'd think a wood chopping ban at night would be for 1 of 2 things.

1. A woodcutter can't see his feet, or the object he is chopping when it is dark, which led to an inordinate amount of trauma.

2. There are other campers trying to sleep and wood chopping is the nuisance call they recieve most.

I found the answer...

I started to wonder if the area being spoken of was located on US Forest Service Land. This of course is public land and can be used for a lot of recreational purpose with the proper permits. This includes cutting and collecting firewood, as well as Christmas Trees. The cutting firewood during daylight hours is a USFS regulation, so that's probably the signs that were seen.



PDF File on Firewood Cutting & Federal Regulations

Other quotes of note:

Back in the 80's in the Olympics, late-nite shake bolt pirating and other forms of outright theft of logs and trees and equipement was a problem that was, of course most pronounced under the cover of darkness. An ex-pirate I knew said the way to foil the patrolling forest service and private loggers security who were monitoring the sounds of the valleys for any chainsaws it was to have a rubber tube from the exhaust manifold into a bucket of water...almost no noise and therefore all but undetectable at night. So one could imagine having any legitimate chainsaw wood gathering would make it all the harder to monitor for illegal activity.