The high prices of building materials continue to play a role in the Verde Valley’s housing shortage, with multiple projects delayed or canceled due to problems with financing as costs rise.
Data from the National Association of Homebuilders shows that the producer price index for building materials rose 36% between January 2020 and January 2023. The Association of Builders and Contractors similarly announced in February that brick prices were up 26% over the previous three years, concrete products were up 28% and lumber was up 29%. Locally, the city of Sedona may have to increase its financial contribution to the proposed Sunset Lofts workforce housing project by another $2 million due to increasing construction costs.
However, thanks to the U.S. Forest Service’s well-established policy of public access to public lands, homebuilders and others doing construction projects can reduce their costs by making use of materials harvested from public lands under inexpensive forest product permits, particularly rock collecting permits.
Malapais rock, which is dark volcanic basalt, can be collected at two sites north of Sedona. The nearer of these is the Ritter Rock Collection Area above Oak Creek Canyon, which is roughly bounded by I-17 to the east, Forest Roads 253 and 9498 to the south and James Canyon to the north. Malapais rock may also be collected along the north side of Forest Road 9001E off US 180 north of Flagstaff.
Permits for Malapais rock cost $25 and are good for collecting up to five tons of stone during a 90-day period. According to the Flagstaff Ranger District, which issues between 40 and 50 permits per year for these locations, individuals are limited to one permit per year due to the district’s population and the high demand for materials.
The Coconino National Forest’s Red Rock Ranger District normally offers permits for harvesting both landscape red rock and landscape river rock, but is not currently issuing red rock permits.
The red rock collection area is located off Forest Road 761B, while river rock can be collected from the floodplain of Dry Beaver Creek east of Forest Road 9206L, which is off State Route 179 south of the Village of Oak Creek.
“The district collects the sandstone from other projects as, essentially, excess materials and places it in the collection area on 761,” Coconino National Forest public affairs officer Brady Smith said in regard to red rock collection. “We didn’t have enough excess material to meet demand, so we stopped offering the permits. We’ll open again when there is enough material gathered to meet demand.”
Red rock permits normally cost $15 for three tons and river rock permits are $15 for seven and a half tons. As in the Flagstaff district, rock collection permits are good for three months, but in the Red Rock district, individuals can obtain a new permit as soon as their old one expires rather than waiting a year. The Red Rock district sells about 10 permits annually.
The Mogollon Rim Ranger District issues about two permits per year for sandstone, which can be obtained along a stretch of Forest Road 300 between Forest Roads 137 and 295E, east of Payson.
The cost for a sandstone permit is $10 per ton, with a minimum of two tons. There is no formal cap on the amount that can be collected, Amelia Galuski with the Mogollon Rim district said, since there is little demand for it and individuals have been responsible with their collections so far.
The remoteness of the location is responsible for the lack of demand.
“Nobody wants to drive out 25 miles down a dirt road to collect two tons of rock,” Galuski said.
Forest Service rock collection permits are for personal use only and are not for commercial activity. An individual can obtain multiple permits to harvest different types of rock at the same time. The start date for the open season for rock collection varies from year to year. Last year, it was May 15. This year, it opened on May 5 and will end on December 10.
Other areas that have been open for rock collection in the past are currently closed, as they are being used by Forest Service engineering staff.
The Forest Service offers additional personal use permits for the collection of down and dead wood. Dead wood can be collected throughout most of the Coconino National Forest, although the areas immediately surrounding Sedona and Flagstaff are exempt. The exclusion area around Sedona is roughly three times the size of the exclusion area around Flagstaff.
“The drier mixed vegetation around Sedona is quite different from the ponderosa pine-dominated vegetation around Flagstaff in that it grows much slower and can be quite sparse compared to forested areas, so fuelwood cutting and gathering around Sedona likely resulted in overharvesting of dead and down material,” Coconino National Forest public affairs officer Randi Shaffer said with regard to the size of the Sedona exclusion zone.
Dead wood collection permits cost $2.50 per cord for pine and mixed conifer, or $5 per cord for oak, aspen, juniper and maple. The minimum purchase requirement is $20, and the maximum number of cords allowed is 12 per year. Dead standing pine or fir less than 12 inches in diameter may be taken, as may dead standing aspen less than 12 inches in diameter between June 1 and Sept. 30.
The Flagstaff Ranger District offers free wood collection permits as well. Ponderosa pine slash piles are currently available for harvesting at Forest Road 418 off US 180 north of Flagstaff, and up to five cords may be taken.
Wood permits are on sale from the middle of April through the middle of December.
In addition, the Forest Service sells wilding permits that allow the collection of live plants and trees. Douglas fir, white fir, ponderosa pine, pinyon pine and juniper trees up to four feet tall may be collected during the dead wood collection season each year.
An 800-square-foot house with onefoot-thick walls would require roughly 80 tons of stone, which would cost $165 for Dry Beaver Creek river rock, or $400 for Malapais rock, in addition to up to $5 per cord for wood.
Permits may be obtained by calling the Flagstaff Ranger District at (928) 536-0866, the Red Rock Ranger District at (928) 203-7500 or the Mogollon Rim Ranger District at (928) 477-2255.
