Montana Firewood Banks: Fueling Homes, Strengthening Communities
- Hannah Stinson
- Jul 18
- 7 min read
In mid June, AGH’s Hannah Stinson, who lives in Wyoming, drove up to Montana to coordinate a chainsaw safety webinar, hosted by the Alliance for Green Heat. Two experienced sawyers, Scott Kuehn National Association of Loggers and Emily Garlough with the Red Ants Pants Foundation led the workshop. She also took the time to visit four firewood banks, to help assess the effectiveness of AGH’s firewood band grant program, and to provide each bank with a safety toolkit.
The toolkits are designed to be conversation starters and education aids, so that firewood banks can help homes they deliver wood to be safer. Each kit included a combination smoke and CO alarm, an ash bucket, a stove thermometer, educational materials from the EPA Burn Wise Library, and a firewood bank coffee mug!
Each of these firewood banks reflects the deep values of Montana’s communities: resourcefulness, generosity, and a shared responsibility to care for one another. Whether led by a pastor, a veteran, or a wildland firefighter, these programs demonstrate how heating assistance can be rooted in dignity, equity, and environmental stewardship.
As one bank leader put it simply, “It’s all about the people.” With firewood banks, we support our neighbors, and our forests, one log at a time.
New Life Church – Polson, MT
In Polson, on the Flathead Reservation, I met Don Miller, who’s been leading the New Life Church firewood bank since 2017. Over the 8 years they’ve been in operation they have delivered 500 truck loads to various families, with roughly ⅔ cord of split wood in each load. It all started when Don struck up a conversation with a logger near his family’s cabin on Lake Mary Ronan. The logger had a load of small-diameter wood destined for a pulp mill nearly 100 miles away, where he’d barely break even with costs. Don knew that the same wood could heat homes in his community, so he made a pitch: bring it here instead. The logger agreed, and a lasting partnership was born.
That fall, Don and a crew of twelve community members, including commissioners, DOT employees, and lumber yard staff, split and delivered seasoned firewood to those in need. Their quick action made an immediate impact. A local mission project built them a 30x60 free standing roof shelter which helps tremendously to keep split wood dry. Their volunteer base has stayed about the same with 13 hands on volunteers and 2-3 sawyers. Multiple loggers have contributed to New Life Church’s firewood sock pile. Some delivering over 15 truck loads and sourcing from Federal Forest Permits.
Today, the firewood bank runs with compassion, human connection, and a sense of purpose. Recipients fill out a short form that includes income, heat source, and household size, but also one special line: “Do you have a prayer request?” According to Don, more than 70% of recipients do. “That question really helps us understand what folks are going through,” he shared.
Don prefers to deliver firewood himself whenever possible. “It’s about connection,” he said, tearing up as he described the gratitude people show. “When times are hard, they could sure use a little bit of light.”
Don gave credit to the National Forest Foundation’s Marlee Ostheimer, the Northern Region Program Manager and Wood for Life liaison, and her help with finding our firewood assistance program. “Every tribal firewood bank should accept help from Marlee, she really helped us out!” Don said.
With help from the Alliance for Green Heat’s Firewood Bank Assistance Program, they’ve recently added more chainsaws and PPE to grow their sawyer team. They also acquired a conveyor belt from a local farmer and a 2 ton Dodge 3500 dump truck- tools Don calls “game changers” that every firewood bank should have. The team takes pride in offering only dry, seasoned wood, they also avoid accepting wood that produces ash and excessive creosote (such as ponderosa pine). “Burning wet wood is a waste,” Don emphasized. It doesn’t serve anybody and creates a fire risk.
Little Wood Bank – Bigfork, MT
In Bigfork, I met Sarah and David Puerner, retired veterans and trained first responders and pararescue experts who have long volunteered with Team Rubicon. Their firewood bank, Little Wood Bank, grew from their commitment to service and their firsthand knowledge of wildfire risk.
After relocating to Montana part-time from Arizona, they began helping a local landowner reduce fire risk by thinning forested acres. David saw a dual opportunity: protecting structures and repurposing the fuel as home heating wood. “It’s firewood, and it should be treated as such,” he said.
Inspired by their friend Pattiann Bennett, who runs a firewood ministry three hours north, Sarah and David started delivering firewood in pickup loads to neighbors, friends, and anyone who asked. Some of their earliest board members are also recipients of wood, proof that community service often flows both ways.
With guidance from Pattiann, support from AGH, and their own vision they now offer mobile firewood bank toolboxes, complete with chainsaws, PPE, bar oil, wedges, and the Log Ox, an American made tool that makes hauling logs easier by hand. They also secured a logging truck from Polson’s New Life Church Firewood Bank, and formed partnerships with local businesses, like Snappy’s Sporting Store, which offered them a staging area for a future wood lot. Expanding their efforts with Team Rubicon’s volunteer network and chainsaw trainings is also in their hopeful future plans; they love the regimented structure that Team Rubicon offers veterans. Camaraderie and service is essential for veterans reentering society, and they want to make that more accessible with their firewood bank growth.
Sarah designed eye-catching posters with the slogan “Heat Homes Instead,” overlaid on a burning slash pile, a message that quickly resonated in this fire-prone region. Their next goal is to launch a website to help more communities find and connect with firewood banks throughout Northern Montana. "People need help," Sarah said, "and there's got to be a better solution than burning slash piles."
All Angels Firewood Ministry – Fortine, MT
In Fortine, I visited Pattiann Bennett, who has lived in the area for over 40 years and served as the pastor at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Eureka. Pattiann and her husband Bruce launched the All Angels Firewood Ministry after seeing the waste of seasonal slash burns. “The responsible use of natural resources is our responsibility,” she said. Since 2011 their firewood bank distributes 125 cords of wood to roughly 80 households in need each heating season.
They received USDA Forest Service permission to repurpose logs removed during stewardship projects. Bruce, who worked at the local mill, had the skills to turn those logs into firewood. Inspired by previously featured Harry Neeley’s legacy and local impact; the couple began advertising and distributing loads of firewood to those in need, and the effort grew fast.
Today, they host volunteer work days every Saturday from October through April. At least 50 volunteers come from across denominations, including Catholic and Baptist churches, and are trained by their volunteer safety coordinator on proper safety procedures before processing, stacking, and hauling wood. Their safety coordinator is a retired forest service sawyer and wealth of knowledge. No wet wood is every distributed, they use their moisture meter to determine logs are 20% moisture content or less, and keep the wood that still needs to dry out set aside for the following winter.
The paperwork is kept simple, using Facebook to advertise and connect with folks. There is no application or eligibility, but Pattiann tracks every delivery in a spiral notebook and personally calls recipients to talk about their needs.They try to keep distribution equitable for all recipients, restricting deliveries to 3 pick-up truck loads per household.
Student volunteers from the Chrysalis School, a therapeutic boarding school for girls, find community and purpose here, as do members of the local fire department and even a local chimney sweep, who cleans chimneys for wood recipients in need.
After 14 years running the firewood ministry has never been stronger: A local logger recently dropped off 2 log decks of wood without being asked. “I want to be a part of this,” he told Pattiann. “You don’t have to pay for it.” That kind of generosity is the soul of All Angels. Their wood lot is stocked with more wood than they’ve ever had going into 2025 heating season and they couldn’t be more grateful.
Blackfeet Elder Firewood Program – Browning, MT
My final stop was Browning Montana, home to the Blackfeet Fire Cache and a robust Elder Firewood Program managed by Carter Gallineaux, a fire management officer responsible for the 1.5 million acres that make up the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. As his small crew was hard at work mopping out the fire engine bays, he took on the firewood program as part of his new role with the Forest Management Division, stretching a limited budget set for emergency assistance to its full potential.
Carter’s four-person crew, all trained wildland firefighters, split time across multiple tribal departments. Some unavailable throughout the entire summer as they reduce fuels built up in historic slash piles in the expansive forests of Glacier National Park. They process wood in a fenced-in lot next to the town dump. This location is easy for vehicles to pick up from and has a secure gate that they can close when needed. Piles of seasoned logs wait for processing just beyond the fenced-in lot. Sacred driftwood is never used for heating, but most other species are fair game, especially seasoned fir, which burns cleanly. They avoid distributing pine when they can.
Through AGH’s Firewood Bank Assistance Program and with help from Wood for Life Coordinator Marlee Ostenmeyer, Carter secured three full logging trucks of wood. The program serves elders and low-income households across a 60- square mile are. The crew also provides smoke detectors to homes that need them.
Carter’s pride in his team is clear. “We do what we can with what we have,” he said. With new equipment in hand: a splitter, chainsaws, PPE, and a dump trailer, they’re poised to keep making a big difference for tribal members who depend on wood heat.
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