firewood - emerald ash borer

how unfortunate that campers that profess their love of nature and the outdoors are the group that is the least willing to preserve it if it will cost them anything… for so many their love of the forest is trumped by worth of the 30 quarters they might save by transporting wood they don’t know is clean…

they make one excuse after another to avoid being a part of the solution…

but they don’t realize the failure of just a few that can save a few bucks can cost communities, counties, states, and private businesses millions in cost and losses by their carless and selfish acts…

while it has NEVER BEEN SAID that firewood is the only means of rapid spreading of new colonies of these pest, it is the most probable cause for it…

firewood mostly comes from dead, dying, and weakened trees, the most likely to be infested, cut into small pieces and hauled even deeper into the back woods of state and federal lands to infect a new stand…

non-caring users of camping firewood do the least to prevent rapid spread of these diseases and pest…
regulations for commercial wood movers are far more intrusive and costly and they must comply with federal, state and local laws and restrictions and pay much more for non-compliance…


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Here is the BEST suggestion - not to add fuel to this "fire" but:

When was the last time you heard of a forest fire that was started by a sandwich or an LED lantern?

I’ve lived in Arizona for 20 years, during which several wildfires occurred.

I’ve learned that: Wildfires start from light­ning or careless humans. Most fires occur during high fire season (dry timber, high winds, low humidity). Care­less, human-caused fires in­crease with camping/picnic season. Camping/picnic sea­son occurs during high fire season. Campfires or barbe­cues most often occur during campouts/picnics.

From these facts, I’ve con­cluded that: We can reduce careless hu­man fires by reducing camp­fires and barbecues. Camp­ing/ picnicking can still be fun without fire. Think about it this way: When is the last time you read about a wildfire caused by a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, bucket of chicken or granola bar? Ever hear about a wildfire caused by campers singing around an LED lantern?

We can reduce human­caused fires if we take fire out of our campouts/picnics. They may be less appetizing with­out hot meals or melted marshmallows for your s’mores, but our forests will love you for it.

In NY the law is wood can't be moved more than 50 miles without a permit. If you bring wood into a State campground you better have a receipt that shows you bought it locally. Every campground I've seen here sells wood and usually has a truck that comes around daily. Most of them you can pay at the office and the truck drops it off at your campsite. Really not a problem. I've gotten use to it being done that way. Usually we buy it just before entering the campground. No shortage of vendors along the road. Most are self service.

I've learned to bring a few Presto Logs, then forage locally for wood to throw in on top. No matter how wet the found wood might be, it'll dry out right quick once exposed to the heat from the PL's.

But I usually camp where there's lots of Public land around where such foraging is allowed.

korbe wrote:
In our neck of the woods, the major reduction in timber harvesting from our national forests, has made it necessary for the logs that are cut to be transported hundreds of miles to the few remaining mills. Sure hope no pests hitch a ride on the logging trucks.

Those logs you see transported, are they Ash?

FYI, the USDA has inspection done prior to any cutting and transport. The USFS administrates the harvest.

IMO, seeing a truck with logs being transported is not an excuse to bring untreated firewood to a campground, along with wings, wind, and any other reason to minimize the threat. It's not about placing blame on one group of people, it's about slowing the spread of pests.

In our neck of the woods, the major reduction in timber harvesting from our national forests, has made it necessary for the logs that are cut to be transported hundreds of miles to the few remaining mills. Sure hope no pests hitch a ride on the logging trucks.

When we got back this Spring it was to a naked street. Every tree had been cut down by the city. Ours is a maple so it was spared. Driving down our street was like going down a green tunnel. It hurts to see it.

You can transport wood safely as long as you follow the guidelines. Have a receipt showing location of wood,
wood needs to be kilm dried at a specified temp. for a required lenght of time.
Complete guidelines are available on DEC/DEP web sites.
NY DEC site evens offers a form that can be downloaded and filled out for the diehard DIYs.

popeyemth wrote:
People appear to be unaware the EAB has wings and is not afraid to use them.

X2. Winged insects need no help to spread and they cannot be stopped. It will run it's course now.

Have a beautiful Marshall Ash in the back yard. For the past five years I have treated it with Bayer tree insect and fertilizer to keep the EAB away just in case. Found that Monetary makes the same stuff without fertilizer and is cheaper. Was not going to use it this year, but if those suckers are in Boulder guess I am going to have to rethink that.