In an effort to protect the state’s one billion ash trees, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis is reminding summer campers and others not to move firewood. On his blog, The State of Green, Grannis reminds people that an invasive wood-boring beetle, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), is threatening ash trees in 14 states, including New York, and two Canadian provinces.

Currently restrictions are in place in New York prohibiting the transportation of untreated firewood more than 50 miles from its source.  

EABs are not great flyers. According to  New York Invasive Species Information website, the natural spread of EABs “in North America is assumed to be 5 miles or less per year.” As the beetle can’t cover much ground on its own, the massive spread of the EAB has been linked to the transportation of infested logs and firewood by humans.

EABs were first discovered in New York in Cattaraugus County in June 2009. Following the discovery, Grannis says, DEC placed 7,500 sticky, purple, triangular traps in Ash trees across the state.

“Last week, we received news that EAB specimens were found in traps in Steuben and Ulster counties – hundreds of miles apart. It’s suspected that firewood was the conduit in each case,” Grannis said in a June 23 blog entry. “That’s why New York State has banned untreated firewood from entering the state and restricted intrastate movement of untreated firewood to no more than a 50-mile radius from its source.”

To learn more about the Emerald Ash Borer visit New York Invasive Species Information website.

Also visit the DEC’s Emerald Ash Borer information page.

Photo credit: Howard Russell, Michigan State University, Bugwood.org