You've given me something to go do. I've never visited the reservation near me. [1] If they are unaware of the wood cutting permits [2] I will show them.

[1] - https://windriver.org/destinations/wind-river-indian-reserva...

[2] - https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mbr/passes-permits/forestprod...

Consider reaching out to your local congressional reps to get some appropriation done where reservation folks are contacted to inform them of their right to the resources and automatically provide the wood cutting permits if done for personal/tribal use. Happy to provide assistance.

I will first reach out to the reservation to learn more about it before I jump to any conclusions. I prefer to speak to the people that live in an area. It may turn out they have everything they need. But I will keep your offer in mind if it turns out things are in a bad state of affairs.

It looks like the Wind River reservation is quite some distance from the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, I don't think ignorance of the permits is their problem.

There are other areas to cut wood. They don't list all of them. The local forestry office may be able to provide closer locations. For example, there is a designated area just a few miles from me but it is not listed on any of the forestry websites. I listed that page to show the permitting process, restrictions and costs. As toomuchtodo pointed out, it may even be free in their case.

There's a good chance that few of those areas are on the reservation, which often were picked to be the worst land in the region. So many still may not live within a convenient distance of an area for wood.

Plus, even if they do live near a forest, I'm not sure if the Forest Service would have jurisdiction. It's possible the tribe has the rights, or the BIA handles it.