09/03/2009

This Labor Day Weekend Don’t Give Tree Pests a Ride: Get Your Firewood Locally

Writer:

Mauricio Espinoza
espinoza.15@osu.edu
(330) 202-3550

Source:

Amy Stone, OSU Extension
stone.91@cfaes.osu.edu
(419) 578-6783

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Labor Day weekend is one of the last few chances to enjoy the summer weather in the great outdoors, and camping is a favorite activity this time of year. No camping trip would be complete without a good campfire to stay toasty in the cooler evenings, but there’s something Ohioans need to know about the risk of doing what otherwise seems harmless: moving firewood.

Firewood, it turns out, can help destroy the natural treasures that make camping and other outdoor activities enjoyable. Pests such as emerald ash borer (EAB) can hide in firewood and infest new areas where that firewood is transported. In fact, many infestations of EAB — an invasive pest that kills ash trees — have been caused by people moving firewood and parts of ash trees in Ohio and in other Midwest and eastern states.

“We are promoting a ‘Burn It Where You Buy It’ message regarding firewood,” said Amy Stone, an Ohio State University Extension horticulture educator and coordinator of Ohio State’s Emerald Ash Borer Outreach Team. “EAB larvae can hitch a ride in firewood transported by campers and other outdoor enthusiasts across Ohio or throughout the country. And those larvae will later emerge and infest nearby ash trees, spreading the infestation much faster than the insect would naturally.”

Stone recommends campers use local sources of firewood to keep EAB and other pests from threatening the health of our forests. However, if firewood has been brought from elsewhere, citizens are being asked to make sure it’s completely burned.

An invasive beetle from Asia that hitched a ride to North America in wood packaging materials back in the 1990s, EAB has already killed millions of ash trees in Ohio, 12 other U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The Asian pest is especially devastating because it kills healthy as well as stressed trees, even threatening the existence of ash trees throughout North America as it continues to spread.

EAB could potentially destroy 1 in every 10 trees in Ohio’s forests. Additionally, USDA estimates that if EAB is not contained or eradicated, it has the potential to cost state and local governments $7 billion over the next 25 years to remove and replace dead and dying ash trees that pose a safety hazard in urban and suburban areas.

Stone reminds citizens that moving firewood can also be illegal in some parts of Ohio. In order to combat the spread of EAB, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has placed 52 counties under quarantine. This means it is against the law to move ash trees, parts of an ash tree and all hardwood firewood out of quarantined areas into non-quarantined areas without a state-approved compliance agreement. In Ohio, quarantine violators face fines up to $4,000.

For details about Ohio’s EAB regulations, call ODA at 888-OHIO-EAB or log on to http://www.agri.ohio.gov/divs/plant/eab/eab-index.aspx.

More information about EAB and firewood can be found at http://www.ashalert.osu.edu. Or contact your local OSU Extension office.

OSU Extension is the outreach arm of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

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