From the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
With the official start of summer just days away and people making plans to spend time in the outdoors, forest health specialists with the state Department of Natural Resources urge campers and others to give some extra consideration to their firewood.
State forestry officials say that infested firewood is one of the most common ways for new pests and diseases to be introduced into areas previously free of those problems.
"Many different insects and diseases can be moved around in firewood," said Jane Cummings Carlson, DNR forest health coordinator. "We're asking people to give some extra thought to the firewood that they buy, move, or store to help cut back on the risk of transporting new pests into the state or moving around the ones we already have."
The request comes at a time when scientists and local officials in Michigan continue to fight the spread of the emerald ash borer, an insect native to Asia that appeared in the Detroit area several years ago. Since then, it's been blamed for the deaths of millions of ash trees in southeastern Michigan and Ontario, Canada. It now has been spread through firewood and other lumber products into Ohio and Indiana.
Though initially confined to southern Michigan, the insect recently has been detected in one county in the northern part of the state, just below the Upper Peninsula. Officials in Michigan and elsewhere have restricted the movement of wood products in some areas, and hefty penalties - up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine - are being considered in some cases.
"All it takes is one or two campers to unwittingly or with disregard bring infested firewood to Wisconsin from southern Michigan, and we'll have a huge problem on our hands," Carlson said. "There are an estimated 628 million ash trees in Wisconsin's forests and thousands more in urban settings, many of them planted in the wake of Dutch elm disease.
"To see neighborhoods go through a similar experience with their ash trees would be devastating," she said.
Emerald ash borer, oak wilt, beech bark disease and gypsy moths are just some of the pests and diseases that can spread into or around the state on firewood. It's difficult to know if you're moving infested wood because the problem often can't be seen.
"Emerald ash borer larvae and fungal spores from oak wilt are hidden beneath the bark of the firewood. As long as the cut wood is relatively fresh, less than a year old, those insects and fungi will continue their normal life cycles, able to spread into new areas if they've been moved," Carlson said.
By contrast, the gypsy moth can lay an egg mass on just about any outdoor surface and hitching a ride on cut firewood is just one of many different ways this destructive pest can infest a new area.
