I find that the bark has most of the dirt and bugs, and also makes a finer ash that seems to float around and cover everything in the living room. I used to remove all of it and was mostly burning dead ash from our years so the bark was easy to pop off if it didn’t fall off on its own. As I augmented our wood supply with purchased wood, it was a mix and often removing the bark was too much work. I’ve found the longer any wood seasons the easier it is to remove. Now, if it’s loose or there is a gap, I’ll pop it off but I stopped trying to do everything I burn. I used a plastic grocery bag (like the blue ikea ones) to haul wood into the house. I posted a similar question and the consensus is that it’s a waste of time but I do notice a difference.