A permit is needed:

• If you are burning a road shoulder.
• If you are clearing land that has not been cropped in the previous year.
• If you are clearing a garden plot that is not considered part of the farm cropping operation.
• If you are burning a pile of yard/tree clippings or other vegetative debris that is not part of the active cropping operation.
• If you are burning Christmas trees left over from the previous year.
  
  

Exemptions for agricultural burning:

• If the fire is part of the cropping or approved disease/pest control system.
• Exemptions do not include clearing land, burning road shoulders, burning fertilizer bags, chemicals, tires, etc.

• For cooking and recreational campfires.
• In areas where burning is not prohibited by local ordinances or air quality laws, a permit is not needed if there is continuous snow cover on the ground.
• When burning household paper materials in a covered metal or masonry container with openings no larger than ¾ inches.
• Never burn demolition debris, construction materials, automotive parts, or household trash that contains plastic, rubber, foam, chemically treated wood, textiles, electronics, chemicals or hazardous materials. Learn more about open burning from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. 

• Leaves, grass, limbs, brush, stumps and evergreen needles
• Household paper materials that do not contain plastic, rubber, foam, chemically treated wood, textiles, electronics, chemicals or hazardous materials. These must be burned in a covered metal or masonry container with openings no larger than ¾ inches.
• Note: If you’re conducting a prescribed burn or burning to clear land for construction or road maintenance, you must obtain a burn permit from a local DNR fire manager.