PA Firewood Travel Ban Extended

An invasive beetle has prompted Pennsylvania Agricultural officials to extend a quarantine to 31 additional counties. The quarantine restricts the transportation of ash lumber, ash wood products, nursery stock, stumps wood chips and firewood. The August 10, 2010 quarantine is an attempt to slow the spread of the destructive emerald ash borer. Previously, only 12 Pennsylvania counties were placed under the quarantine.

The action was taken weeks before the Labor Day holiday weekend which attracts thousands to various campgrounds and the beginning of the Pennsylvania fall hunting season. The quarantine bans moving firewood from one county to another unless it is first kiln dried. Travelers were also asked not to move firewood between the counties. Since it is hard to distinguish hardwoods when used as firewood, the ban includes all firewood. Forestry experts believe the action will help contain the deadly insects.

The new counties added by Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding are: Blair, Cambria, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Crawford, Cumberland, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Jefferson, Lycoming, McKean, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Potter, Snyder, Somerset, Tioga, Union, Venango, and Warren.

The invasive Emerald Ash Borer poses a critical threat to the state's hardwood lumber industry which has an economic impact estimated at $25 Billion. Ash trees make up about 4% of the forests of Pennsylvania.

Ash wood is best known as the wood of choice for making baseball bats. It is also used for tool handles, hockey sticks, canoe paddles and general woodworking crafts. Since it is a wood which can bend easily it is also used for making snowshoes, chairs and boats.

The emerald ash borer was first discovered in Michigan and in neighboring Windsor, Ontario Canada in July 2002. It is widely accepted the beetles arrived from China in wooden shipping crates. The other states now dealing with the invasion are: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Overall it is estimated that tens of millions of trees have already been killed by the beetle.

The deadly wood eating emerald ash borer grows to about a half inch and is a dark green color. While the adult beetle does some minor damage, the larvae are the problem. The larvae hatch and grow under the bark of the ash tree and slowly kill the tree by starving it to death. An infected tree can be killed in about three years after it is attacked by the Emerald Ash Borer.

Little was known about the beetle when it first appeared. However, that is changing as new information and research holds some promise.

The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service(APHIS), the Forestry Service and Agricultural Research Service, along with Canadian researchers are experimenting with several natural biological controls which will keep the Emerald Ash Borer under control. Three of the Emerald Ash Borer's natural pests in China are being studied to determine their effect on the beetle.

Scientists in both Canada and the United States, along with counterparts in China, are closely monitoring three Chinese enemies of the Emerald Ash Borer which attack and destroy the larvae: Tetrastichus planipennisi, Oobius agrili and Spathius agrili.

Additionally, it appears that some native predators, particularly a native wasp, has begun to attack the larvae of the Emerald Ash Borer, according to the researchers. There is also some consideration and research into speculation that native woodpeckers are also helping in stemming the deadly march of the Emerald Ash Borer.

Other important research is continuing on a natural powder obtained from Neem Tree seeds which appears to be effective against the destructive Emerald Ash Borer larvae. It is obtained from East India where it is commonly used in toothpaste and other products such as shampoo.

For homeowners, as well as the forests and parks, the efforts at natural and biological controls appears promising. Research is continuing to determine what, if any, environmental impacts could result from the addition of the these natural enemies of the beetle. For now, however, if a tree is infected, with a forty percent canopy kill, it is doomed and needs to be cut and burned. The tree will not survive.

Emerald Ash Borer has created a forest panic in North America but the research is going full speed ahead on control projects which will not harm the environment. For now, the best course of action, and perhaps the only course for the moment, is to restrict the transportation of wood products, firewood and nursery stock. The alternative is loosing another natural resource as the North American Ash trees move towards extinction as the green invasion marches.

For more information on the quarantines issued in the various states and Canada, can be found here.