Campers Beware: Kentucky State Parks Ban Ohio Firewood
March 20, 2007 12:51 PM EDT

(FRANKFORT, KY) -- Kentucky State Parks will not allow out-of-state firewood
to be brought into campgrounds this year to reduce the risk of bringing an
unwelcome insect into the state.

The ban is intended to keep the emerald ash borer, an insect that kills ash
trees, from entering the state. The insect has been found in states north of
Kentucky - including Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana. These states have
quarantined the movement of firewood out of infected counties. However, the
ban applies to all states, other than Kentucky.

The emerald ash borer is a slender, metallic-colored beetle about one-third
to one-half an inch in length. It can be transported unknowingly in firewood
from infected areas into uninfected areas.

A federal quarantine went in place on Dec. 1, 2006, to prohibit the
transportation of potentially infected ash products into uninfected states.
The quarantine regulates many ash products from nursery stock to raw lumber.

State park campground visitors are asked to use firewood from Kentucky.
Campers with out-of-state firewood will be allowed to turn their firewood in
at check in for proper disposal. Kentucky State Park campgrounds will have
firewood for sale.

Other private and public campgrounds in Kentucky may be adopting the same
policy. Campers should check advance.

--Kentucky Department of Parks Press Release.

Robin M. Usborne
Communications Manager
Michigan State University
312 Agriculture Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824
ph: 517-432-1555 x 169
fax: 517-355-1804
www.emeraldashborer.info