Salvaging wood from all the fallen trees in Coastal California

Caltrans and other local agencies like Fire Departments after cutting up downed trees to keep roads open often leave those fallen trees in pieces. So, it's also traditional that anyone who wants this wood can get it and cut it into rounds or split it either there or at their homes for burning at a later date. Where I live most of the trees are either Pine or Cypress trees that have fallen and are between 1 foot and 4 to 5 feet in diameter. So, people often bring chain saws and cut these trees then into 1 to 2 foot wide rounds or even split it down to burnable wood either where they get the wood or where they are going to keep the wood before curing it before burning it. Right now the wood is wet and so people need to find a dry place for the wood to cure because it's mostly too wet still right now to burn in your wood stove or fireplace for heat. 

Sometimes if our wood shed was full we would dry wood under a tarp so it could dry out. You take a 12 foot by 12 foot or 24 foot by 24 foot tarp and then cover the wood you want to dry (or to just keep the rain or snow off of it) until you can move it into your wood shed so it can dry further. This was from when I lived in Mt. Shasta because heating with wood and gathering it yourself with a Forest Service permit was much cheaper than paying for any other kind of heating where it snows. So, a good wood stove (not just a fireplace) if you want to heat a small or middle sized house is best. I think when I did this a permit for a season (usually spring and summer or fall or longer) was only 15 dollars a season but now it is likely 25 to 50 dollars or something like that 30 years later. But, this is still much cheaper than paying for gas or electric heating to your home or business (especially if you live where it snows).

Make sure you take a few pieces of your wood to weight down the tarp in various places so the tarp doesn't just blow away in a good wind.