With bitter cold temperatures that started the year in many parts of the country, several residents with a wood fire stove have perhaps turned to that for some extra heat. In some cases, that has also meant finding firewood to fuel it. Just keep in mind one very important consideration: buy it where you burn it. Buy locally. And burn it where you buy it.
The reminder comes from two USDA representatives, U.S. Forest Service entomologist Sky Stephens and David Cruchot of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The reason is to prevent invasive plant pests and diseases from moving to new locations via firewood transport.
“Asian longhorn beetle, emerald ash borer, spongy moth, for example, forest pests that could be present in or on firewood — it really doesn’t matter whether it’s spring or wintertime. There are various life stages that survive inside the tree and can still be transported and complete their life cycle and emerge when weather warms,” Cruchot said.
Stephens provides a real-world example from her time employed with the Colorado State Forest Service.
“I lived right along the Front Range outside of Fort Collins, and in the mid-2000s we had a significant outbreak of mountain pine beetle. We got a call from the far eastern plains communities in Colorado saying, ‘We’ve got dying trees. What’s happening?’ And what I discovered was a significant amount of firewood that had moved from the mountains in Colorado to the plains in Colorado and moved with it mountain pine beetle and some other associated bark beetles, and the tree mortality far removed from the actual outbreak event was associated with the insects that moved in that firewood.”
So, what if you need to obtain firewood from outside your location, say, a trip to a retailer or other vendor of firewood? Cruchot says of importance:
“Look for firewood that will show that it has gone through an appropriate certification process, typically heat treatment for kiln drying that will eliminate any pest risk within the firewood,”
as that specific firewood is the only type considered safe for transport. Consumers can identify it by “a shield or a stamp on their USDA certified.”
Both APHIS and the Forest Service work together in preventing invasive pest spread through firewood transport restrictions and educational efforts. Cruchot adds that specific quarantine information on plant pests, including firewood movement restrictions, is available online at www.aphis.usda.gov.
“Any type of pest or disease will be listed there that is currently a concern. You can go to the website for more information on where the pests are currently located and whether there’s any quarantine in place at the time, and more information on restrictions with firewood movement.”