As temperatures dip below freezing this time of year, wood banks throughout the state are calling for volunteers to help them stock firewood for the winter months.
Each year, the state’s wood banks aim to secure enough wood for heating to help community members. But there is one difference this year: the growing price of fuel.
As more individuals look for other cost-effective ways to stay warm, the demand for firewood is expected to soar this winter.
To help keep up with the demand, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service has awarded $712,000 to the Alliance for Green Heat, a nonprofit organization that pushes for cleaner and more efficient use of wood heat. The organization will provide grants between $5,000 and $15,000 to support firewood banks this winter.
Applications for the grants will open Oct. 17.
“We want to make sure that wood banks have enough money to buy chaps, the special pants you wear when cutting firewood, and enough equipment so that you can process more of the wood,” said Alliance for Green Heat Founder and President John Ackerly.
Mary Congoran, the organizer of the Wood for Warmth program and the Sean Powers Wood Bank in Hopkinton, N.H., said it was a wonderful surprise when she heard about the generous grants that will be offered to wood banks. She hopes the grants will help serve firewood as a heating source to more communities.
Wood banks, such as the one Congoran operates, rely heavily on volunteer labor and donations to cut, split, season, and deliver firewood to local households that can’t afford to buy more.
One of the volunteers is Joyce Rose, the secretary of the Contoocook Carry Community Fund. Rose and her husband work as loggers. Each year, they lend their trucks and men to deliver wood to homes. She noted that orders for firewood have increased this year.
“I believe that because of the increased cost of fuel, a lot of people will rely on wood more than they have in previous years,” Rose said.
Melissa Gallagher, executive director of The Grapevine, a community center that operates a wood bank in Hillsborough County, said the grants could help them expand their capacity to accept different types of wood.
“We don’t have our own wood splitter,” Gallagher said. “But if we had the funds to buy a wood splitter, we could potentially be receiving larger logs that could then be cut here on site.”
Wood banks will be able to ramp up their efforts to provide firewood this winter with the funding, but Ackerly wants to ensure safety is not overlooked.
“We are going to make sure each group has a moisture meter to test the moisture of wood and determine whether it’s properly seasoned,” Ackerly said.
The ideal moisture content for firewood is less than 20%. Burning wood with higher moisture content is a safety hazard because it produces more smoke and creosote, which can cause a chimney fire.
■Wood Ministry at Kearsarge Presbyterian Church, New London, 603-526-4800.
■Warner Community Wood Bank, Warner, 603-456-3303.
■Sean Powers Wood Bank, Hopkinton, 603-568-2783.
■The Grapevine Community Wood Bank, Antrim, 603-588-7154.
■Peterborough Community Wood Bank, Peterborough, 603-924-6800.