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NEWS RELEASE |
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| Date: Contact: |
May 23, 2007 Judy Antipin |
phone | (610) 557-4183 | NA-05-02 jantipin@fs.fed.us |
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| Gina Childs | (651) 649-5296 |
U.S. Forest Service, Northeast States: Don’t move firewood!
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.— The U.S. Forest Service and several state forestry agencies throughout the northeast and midwest are asking campers to leave their firewood at home this Memorial Day weekend and thereafter. Otherwise, unwanted tree-killers might hitch a ride.
The movement of firewood from home areas to campsites contributes significantly to the spread of forest-harming invasive insects. While some insect species might spread 40 miles in a year by natural migration, a person hauling infested firewood from home to camp could move a species hundreds of miles in a single day.
“Bringing firewood from home has been a tradition for many campers, but that needs to change to protect the forests and natural areas they enjoy so much,” says Kathryn Maloney, Director of the Northeastern Area, State and Private Forestry office of the U.S. Forest Service. “Public outreach on this issue is a key factor in changing this behavior. We truly believe that if people know and understand the dangers of moving firewood, and the pest hitchhiking on it, they will agree to purchase firewood at their destination instead.”
The U.S. Forest Service says invasive species are one of the top four threats facing the forests of the country. Invasive insects in particular pose a costly and growing problem, costing about $120 billion in forest damage, lost revenues and mitigation expenses each year.
Invasive insects are typically non-native. Most invasive insect species are introduced to North America from Asia and Europe via international trade. Invasive species often have no local competitors, which throws off the balance in the native ecosystem. The invasive species is free to flourish unchecked. A robust invasive insect population can decimate a forest in as little as a few years.
One of the most damaging invasive insects to hit our shores in many years is the emerald ash borer (EAB). Discovered in the Detroit area of Michigan in 2002, it has killed more than 20 million trees in Michigan and the adjacent states of Ohio, Indiana, and most recently, Illinois. Those states are all under quarantine for the movement of woody ash materials, including firewood. The deadly insect has also found its way to Maryland, the result of an illegal shipment of infested ash trees from Michigan. To the north, EAB was discovered in the Ontario province of Canada, near the border with Michigan, in 2002.
Michael Terrell, manager of Warren Dunes State Park in Sawyer, Michigan knows well the impact of EAB. Warren Dunes is one of the most scenic parks that can be found, with 4 miles of shoreline along Lake Michigan, and a rugged dune formation that rises 260 feet above the lake. Campsites are in the interior forested area of the park. “It was discovered here in October of 2005, in campsite 152,” he says. “We had 9,000 trees removed.” That has meant less shade for campers in many of the sites, he says.
“We consider firewood to be one of the biggest culprits adding to the spread of emerald ash borer in Ohio,” says Melissa Brewer, public information spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Emerald Ash Borer Program. “We’ve found it (EAB) in Metro Parks, we have found it in campgrounds, and in other areas commonly associated with campers and firewood.”
For the last three years Ohio has been participating in Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week, which this year is May 20-26. “Reinforcing the message to campers to buy local firewood and burn local firewood is one of the main messages we’re trying to get out,” says Brewer. The states of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota are also participated in the weeklong outreach effort.
In the meantime, forestry and agriculture officials in the northeast are keeping a wary eye on the spread of EAB and other invasives, and worrying about firewood movement in their own recreational areas.
The New Hampshire Dept. of Resources and Economic Development recently conducted a survey of campers at their campgrounds. The state knew it was bad to move firewood long distances, but they didn't know how many people were actually doing it. The results shocked them.
Nearly 50 percent of campers in New Hampshire came from out of state, said New Hampshire State Entomologist Kyle Lombard. About half of all campers also brought their own firewood from home. In turn, about one-in-four campers to the Granite State came from out of state and introduced potentially harmful wood into the local forests, he added.
“That's so many opportunities for a bug we don't have yet to get into our forests. I hope all that wood was burned completely on the trip," said Lombard
Even more alarming, some campers traveled much farther than nearby Massachusetts or Vermont to get to the Granite State. “One camper came from Ontario, while another traveled more than 3,000 miles away from California. Both long-distance vacationers hauled their own firewood from home,” said Lombard.
“With so many people hauling potentially infested firewood from so far away, it is no wonder invasive insects have become such a huge problem,” added Lombard.
The State of New York is experiencing the same problem of campers hauling potentially infested firewood from home. The emerald ash borer is now approaching the state from the north and west, via a shared border with Ontario province in Canada, and the state of Ohio
“We’re worried. Hauling firewood is speeding up the spread of EAB and other invasive insects,” said New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation Bureau of Private Land Services Chief Bruce Williamson. “We don’t want New York firewood leaving the state, and we certainly don’t want out-of-state firewood coming here,” he added.
Campers are asked to buy their firewood from local merchants instead of hauling it from home. Doing so will help reduce the risk of inadvertently spreading invasive insects.
On the Net: http://www.emeraldashborer.info/