Across the Northern Forest, firewood banks are turning a local resource into affordable heat, stronger communities, and greater energy security. 

For Eric Axelrod of Jericho, Vermont, and his two sons, their work began in winter 2019 with a surplus of firewood in their backyard and a recognition of need in the community.

He said, “One of the first families we brought firewood to was deeply moved and they said to my sons, ‘This is the first winter we are going to be OK.’ What they meant was that they wouldn’t have to go into the woods in the middle of winter and cut firewood because that’s where their family had been for the last 20 years.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Axelrod family put their extra time to use to start Wood4Good, a firewood bank. Vermonters came out of the woodwork to help. In the first year, Wood4Good helped 50 families. That number has increased to 188 families through three firewood processing and distribution hubs in Plainfield, Burke, and Rochester. Now, they have their sights on helping families across the entire state.

Like a food bank but for heat

“Firewood banks” is often a new term for people. Think of it like a food pantry — connecting resources, in this case wood, to those in need. All firewood banks start with a small group of local champions who observe a challenge in their community — maybe it’s a neighbor that can’t afford to heat their home or perhaps their own concern about rising energy prices — and then seek to address it.

Starting a firewood bank first requires raw materials. Firewood banks may source wood — typically hardwood — from arborists, loggers, or landowners. Then, they must season the wood, dropping its moisture below 20% for cleaner, hotter, and more efficient burning. Next, a firewood bank needs physical space and equipment to store, process, and distribute wood. This all requires both financial and human capital. Depending on the set-up and scale of a firewood bank, financial capital helps fund the property, security, and equipment. Human capital is necessary for building relationships with volunteers, donors, and supporters. Typically, firewood banks only provide limited supplemental firewood assistance to households facing fuel insecurity and the amount of firewood donated to each household can vary widely from firewood bank to firewood bank.

A gap but also an opportunity for Northern Forest communities

For more than a decade, the Northern Forest Center has been a proponent of wood heat. Wood heat connects people to place, provides both alternative primary or secondary heat sources reducing household dependence on fossil fuels, and offers individuals greater price certainty across the winter season.

The Northern Forest is the most heavily forested area of the Northeast and provides a significant amount of timber to produce manufactured wood products regionally and globally. Yet only 8.8% of households in the Northern Forest utilize wood to help meet their heating needs (American Community Survey, 2024). Instead, 47% of households rely on oil or propane (American Community Survey, 2024). This is an issue for the Northern Forest. Financially, oil is the most volatile heating source available to residents and its cost is highly tied global events such as the wars in Ukraine and Iran. And Northern Forest counties are among the most distressed in the Northeast, contending with lower incomes, population loss, and higher levels of unemployment.

Firewood banks are a powerful tool for remedying this challenge. They connect residents to the forests and to one another, provide local heating fuel at little to no cost for in-need households, and strengthen the social fabric of a community. However, only 20 communities across the Northern Forest currently have an operating firewood bank, and 12 of which are in Maine. Maine Wood Banks Network and Wood4Good are changing that narrative by providing added support, knowledge, and capacity to local communities across Maine and Vermont, respectively.

Learn more about firewood banks

In the latest Building the New Forest Future webinar, the Center and Alliance for Green Heat brought together firewood bank leaders from across the region to discuss how their organizations have evolved, what partnerships have built to support their mission, and what other communities can learn from their experiences in creating and operating local firewood banks. If you are looking to start a firewood bank in your community, are currently involved in a firewood bank but want to improve its impact or operations, or are wondering how you can support your community’s firewood bank, watch the following recording “How Firewood Banks are Building Resilience in Northern Forest Communities.”