Author: Leigh Greenwood

Summer 2013 Kickoff- Clearwater!

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

Don't Move Firewood Summer Interns start off at Clearwater Great Hudson River Revival!

By Annalena Barrett

 

Last weekend Julia and I (the brand new Community Outreach Interns for the Don’t Move Firewood Campaign) attended Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, an awesome environmental music festival. Neither of us had been to the festival before and had no idea what to expect. We set out Friday morning from Sheffield, Massachusetts and miraculously found our way there without a hitch despite our mutual ineptitude with directions. From there, the weekend was a total success. We were joined by two other Nature Conservancy employees based out of Albany and had a great time laughing at each other wearing the campaign’s Asian Longhorned Beetle costume.

It was exciting to see how many people really wanted to engage with us and learn about invasive species and forest health. It was also heartening to hear how much people already knew. Several Clearwater veterans came up to the booth to say they remembered the booth from a few years back and still had their beetle ID cards tucked into their wallets. Or that they love to camp, but have learned to buy their firewood where they want to burn it. Over two days of tabling we spoke with about 900 people and administered almost as many beetle themed temporary tattoos. Needless to say, we worked some long days, but hearing someone exclaim, “Wow I didn’t know that, I’ll definitely be more careful now!” or watching a kid jump up and down as they explained to a parent how invasive beetles spread made it incredibly fun and worthwhile. Often, these issues seem out of hand and unmanageable, but after a weekend of reaching out and talking to folks about simple ways to protect our trees, it seems more and more likely that we will actually be able to get a handle on the situation by implementing best practices.

 

This sense of hope and progress was compounded by the overall environment of Clearwater. We were just one of many groups tabling in the expansive “activist area” of the festival. In addition to this, Clearwater had a Green Living Expo set up and a zero waste policy. Everything from the plates to the forks to the straws we used were compostable and there was a person stationed at every waste disposal area to help people sort their trash correctly. For a festival attended by thousands, this kind of commitment to minimizing waste is commendable. I can’t help but lament a little that everywhere we set up a booth this summer will not be as conscientious and committed as Clearwater.       

 

At the end of the weekend, we had given away hundreds of fun freebees, learned that prize wheels make people of all ages excited, and deduced that there is no situation that is not greatly enhanced by fresh lemonade and a potato pancake.

Gathering firewood in Oregon?

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

Dear Don't Move Firewood,

I know we shouldn't take firewood with us when we travel to camp. Could you help provide resources to let us know rules and regs. to collecting firewood in different areas?

Thanks,

Oregonian

 

Dear Oregonian,

The answer is very dependent on where you are going. In Oregon, there is no overall state law or regulation on collecting firewood, but different land managers (like private land, state lands, national parks or national forest) all may set their own independent rules. The best thing to do is spend a little bit of time on the internet, searching for where you are going and what the local rules might be. For instance, I poked around on the Forest Service National Forest listing for Oregon, and found that (as one example) on the Umpqua they have a nicely organized firewood page. Most sites will have information on firewood in either a camping page, or a permits page, in my experience.

 

In your neighboring states, i.e. see external links for Washington, Idaho, and California, the regulations will differ but the concept is the same. I'm sorry it isn't easier to list all the exact resources!

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the ways we talk to you!

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

Did you know that Don’t Move Firewood has a blog? Oh, wait, you are reading it. Just checking you are awake.

Aside from our blog, we also maintain a wide variety of online options for staying in touch. Here’s a list in case you want to sign up, like, or follow us!

Don’t be a stranger- keep up with Don’t Move Firewood!

The pallet to firewood pest connection

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

At least 58 non-native wood-boring insect species have been detected in the United States since 1985; nearly all are suspected of having entered the country in crates, pallets, or other forms of packaging made of wood. And despite the far tighter regulations on wooden packaging that were put in place in 2006, some wood boring insects are bound to continue sneaking into North America.

Since these insects live deep inside wood, they are difficult for people to detect. This means that importers and shipping companies have a tough time seeing if wood is contaminated, and just about anyone could unknowingly spread these pests within contaminated firewood.

Two examples of the severe harm that this sort of pest can wreak are the Asian longhorned beetle and emerald ash borer. The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) has been introduced to North America and Europe more than a dozen times via contaminated wood packaging from China. Most of these outbreaks were not discovered for many years – because even though this is a large insect, it spends most of the year hidden inside the heart of the tree.

The U.S., Canadian, and European governments have spent close to $600 million dollars- and removed nearly 100,000 trees- in order to eradicate these outbreaks. Thankfully, these programs are succeeding: as of this writing, four of the seven North American ALB populations have been eradicated: Chicago IL; Long Island NY; Hudson County NJ; and Toronto, Canada.

But three outbreaks remain – a fairly isolated infestation within New York City, the large infestation in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the newest found ALB infestation in Clermont County, Ohio. The infestations in Massachusetts and Ohio will be difficult to eradicate, but history has shown that it is possible if given the proper time and resources.

The emerald ash borer apparently entered North America only once, according to genetic evidence and scientific analysis of infested trees . However, it has spread rapidly to an area of almost 200,000 square miles in 19 states. So far, EAB has killed more than 50 million trees. After spending more than $300 million over 10 years, the U.S. and Canadian governments now leave efforts to states, cities, and homeowners. Towns and homeowners are now responsible for the costly (estimated at $1.2 billion per year) removal of dead and dying ash trees before they fall over, damage property, or injure people.

It can feel so disheartening to read about these problems, but there are several concrete things that anyone can do that will really help.

  • Don’t move firewood- use only local or heat treated firewood when you go camping or traveling.
  • Tell your friends, your coworkers, and your family about the issue of contaminated firewood.
  • Educate yourself on how to spot the symptoms of pest infestations. Learn about ALB exit holes, take a look at this picture of a nearly dead ash tree with strange leafy sprouts near the base of the trunk (caused by EAB damage), and look around for excessive or strange looking woodpecker damage on individual trees.
  • If you see a sickly or dying tree that you suspect might be infested by pests, report it to your state agricultural, natural resources, or forestry agency. Quick reporting can make the difference between a small infestation that is controlled quickly, or a huge infestation that causes the deaths of thousands of trees.

Beetle time!

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

This weekend it was unseasonably warm at my house. Sunny, gorgeous, high around 65. We recently had an arborist cut down a few trees that were leaning hazardously towards our house, so there is a lot of firewood in our yard waiting to be neatly bucked and stacked. I was playing outside when it hit me.

 

Literally.

 

A large beetle flew out of a log and smacked me in the shirt, hard. Being the head of Don't Move Firewood, I knew to immediately capture this beetle and stick it in a jar so I could look at it. Sure enough, it was a native beetle that had just emerged from the wood. The coolest part was that I could actually see fresh 'sawdust' that the beetle had kicked out as it emerged from a neat little hole clearly visible between the bark and heartwood. Pretty fantastic to see that in action!

 

On Monday, when I sat down in my office, I was going to tell you all about this, but then I got this email, and here's what happened next…

 

Dear Don't Move Firewood,

I bought a cord of wood from a local guy this past fall. I put the wood on my back deck on a metal firewood rack. The other day I saw a number of bugs on the left over wood.  Someone told me they are longhorn beetles. Should I be concerned that they may end up in my deck or house? Should I move all the wood farther back on my property or just burn everything now?

Thanks,

Jack in Ohio

 

To keep a long story short, Jack and I corresponded a bit, and he ended up sending me a photo that quite clearly is not the Asian longhorned beetle.The antenna are far too short, and the stripes are very different from ALB. Also, even in Ohio, the last week of April is a pretty unlikely time for an ALB to be found outside because of their life cycle (much more likely in later May, or June or July).

 

A happy ending. His local firewood (thank you!) doesn't have ALB in it! Win-win.

 

Of course, if you want more information on the ALB in Ohio, here you go:

https://asianlonghornedbeetle.com/where-is-it/ohio/

 

Preventing pest entry on plants

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

We’ve talked a lot here on Don’t Move Firewood about how forest pests can enter North America on or in the wood of packaging materials, such as pallets. One thing that we talk less about is that many pests also have reached our shores on imports of living plants. Examples of this problem include the hemlock woolly adelgid, winter moth, and the pathogen sudden oak death.

 

Until recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has tried to prevent new introductions by physically inspecting plant shipments. However, finding pests is very difficult because pests can be tiny, non-symptomatic at the time of import, or just simply very well hidden inside the plant. And of course it is unrealistic to inspect anything more than a minute percentage of total imports.

 

Protecting our forests and other natural resources for pests demands a more effective approach.

 

Recognizing this need, APHIS recently created a “limbo” category, known by its lengthy acronym NAPPRA (Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Analysis). When certain types of plants from specific countries are deemed likely to harbor a particular pest, APHIS can temporarily prohibit imports of these plants via NAPPRA while it analyzes the pest risk and adopts safeguards to ensure that imported plants will be as pest-free as possible.

 

Last week, APHIS took the first action under this new authority by listing 107 plant genera which are likely to transport one of 13 types of pests. For example, imports of birches, dogwoods, poplars, willows, and 70 other genera of trees and shrubs from Europe and much of Asia are prohibited because they could introduce to the U.S. the citrus longhorned beetle – a close relative of the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB). Citrus longhorned beetles are able to attack an even greater variety of trees than the ALB. Both these large beetles spend months deep inside trees as larvae and thus are very difficult to discover via inspections.

 

Of course, many of the pests being prevented by these new actions could, if established, travel on contaminated firewood. Here at Don’t Move Firewood we are excited that APHIS has begun applying their new NAPPRA authority to protect our forests. Exciting times!

 

The Asian spongy moth problem

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

The Asian spongy moth attacks many hardwood or deciduous trees as well as several conifers, including Douglas fir, hemlock, larch, pine, and spruce. Since the female Asian spongy moths can fly – unlike the European spongy moth already widespread in the Northeast USA– it spreads more rapidly.

Asian spongy moths are found in the Russian Far East, China, Korea, and Japan. Like all moths, they are attracted to lights – including lights at ports where ships are loaded. The females then lay their eggs on the ships.

To protect our forests, U.S. and Canadian customs agencies inspect ships coming from northern Asia; ships found with moth eggs attached to the ship or its cargo must return to the open sea and clean off the eggs. Inspecting the ships is difficult, time-consuming, dangerous – and not always a perfect process – which leaves our forests vulnerable.

The U.S., Canada, and Mexico have adopted a regional standard that makes China, Korea, and Japan responsible for ensuring that the ships travelling to North America are not carrying spongy moth eggs. They must inspect the ships, monitor moth populations in ports and nearby forests, and take other actions to reduce the likelihood of moths laying eggs on the ships. For example, moths are not attracted to lights of a certain wavelength, so using those specific types of lighting reduces the risk while allowing port operations to continue.

This program was applied to Russia in the mid-1990s. It has worked: few ships from Russia now carry spongy moth eggs.

China, Korea, and Japan are now gearing up their programs – but improvement is needed. In 2012, 31 ships with egg masses were detected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and required to leave port until they could pass inspection.

Given how difficult it is to inspect ships, it would be easy for some egg masses to escape detection and hatch – starting another outbreak in North America. If it gets established, the Asian spongy moth could easily be transported on firewood, just like the European spongy moth. Remember – even if a pest outbreak has not been officially detected, the risk is still present.

Compressed wood, fake logs, pellets, and more

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

Here at Don’t Move Firewood, we get a lot of interesting ideas and news from our Contact Us page. Not infrequently, we get people that want to promote a legitimate product to replace conventional cut-wood firewood, something like a compressed sawdust log, or a pressed wood log, or pellets, or some other reclaimed wood product.

For the record; as long as there are minimal or, ideally, no other products (glue, solvent, etc) and the wood source in the “log” is well-conceived (reclaimed, waste product, recycled sawdust, sustainably sourced scrap wood, small diameter thinned wood, fire salvage wood, whatever), we DO agree that your product is a viable replacement for the occasional firewood user. And if it is made from either heat treated material, or material processed into very small pieces, then we also agree it is generally safe to move long distances.

However, we do not promote these items. There are two reasons for this;

1) Don’t Move Firewood is part of a non-profit. As such, we cannot confer gain upon a for-profit-entity. Bluntly, we can’t promote your product because the government says that we can’t, and we play strictly by their rules.

2) Firewood is, at its core, not the problem. The decentralized movement of firewood by both individuals and firewood distributors, sometimes going long distances, is the problem. Firewood replacement products, which represent a small part of the firewood market, are therefore not the answer to the most pressing issue.

We think many of your products are great, and please keep up the good work. But we can’t promote them, and to say they solve the problem misses the bigger picture that free and untreated firewood is always going to be out there, and people need to learn not to move it long distances.

Press Release: Look for Pests During Spring Garden and Backyard Cleanup

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

NEWS RELEASE — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sarah Volkman

svolkman@tnc.org
215.622.0557

BEWARE OF UNWANTED GARDEN AND TREE PESTS DURING SPRING CLEANUP

Tree-killing insects and diseases can be spread when disposing of yard waste

ARLINGTON, VA—March 20, 2013 – On the first day of spring, homeowners and gardeners nationwide are considering the annual task of cleaning up their yards and gardens to prepare for the growing season. This past winter has brought ample snow, rain and wind in most parts of the nation, knocking down more than the usual share of branches and even entire trees. Gardeners, landscapers, and anyone working outside this spring need to know that tree branches, firewood, and cleared brush can harbor invasive insects and diseases, making proper use or disposal critical to preventing the spread of tree-killing pests.

 

“Even experts can’t always detect a couple of pin-head size insect eggs or a few microscopic fungus spores hidden in wood; however, these tiny threats are enough to destroy an entire forest,” said Leigh Greenwood, Don’t Move Firewood campaign manager, The Nature Conservancy.  “Disposing of tree debris, brush, and other yard waste either on site or through municipal composting is the best way that homeowners can prevent spreading tree-killing pests as they clean up their yards and gardens this spring.”

 

More than 450 non-native forest insects and diseases are now established in the United States. While most can’t move far on their own, many pests can hitchhike undetected on firewood and brush, starting new infestations in locations hundreds of miles away. These infestations can destroy forests, lower property values, and cost huge sums of money to control. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, estimates for damage costs in urban areas for just one invasive pest, the Asian longhorned beetle, range from $1.7 billion for nine selected cities to $669 billion for the entire United States.

 

Pest infestations can take years to be recognized by the authorities because sometimes trees appear healthy despite harboring harmful organisms. Many states have either regulations or quarantines relating to the movement of raw logs, unprocessed wood, or firewood. Depending on the types of problems present in a given state, these regulations might include cut firewood, raw logs under a certain length, high risk species of trees or brush, or other woody materials.  Some of the invasive pests that have prompted both federal and state quarantines include the emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, spongy moth, pine shoot beetle, sudden oak death, sirex wood wasp, and the hemlock woolly adelgid.

 

“During the spring, people also can be on the lookout for signs of invasive pests as they work in their yards and gardens,” said Greenwood.  “Symptoms might include unusual holes in trees, late or damaged leaf buds, or a pattern of dead tips on otherwise healthy branches. Although these insects and diseases can sometimes be difficult to detect, observant, concerned citizens are usually the ones who discover new infestations.”

 

Tips for spring cleanup:

 

  • If you don’t want to keep your firewood until next winter, don’t be tempted to take it with you when camping this spring or summer. Instead, you can give it to your next-door neighbor, burn or chip it on site, or dispose of it locally.
  • Hire a tree service or rent a tree chipper to shred fallen trees and branches and brush into mulch for your own garden beds and landscaping projects.
  • Many areas now offer a yard waste recycling program. Contact your municipal solid waste management department for information specific to your area.
  • If a yard waste recycling or composting program is not available, and you cannot keep it on site, brush, logs, and branches should be disposed of in a local landfill.
  • Take care to respect all state and local regulations on the movement of firewood and other unprocessed wood – some areas are subject to serious fines for violations. For more information, visit https://www.dontmovefirewood.org/the-problem/state-state-information/index.html.
  • During your spring cleanup, if you notice an insect or tree disease you don’t recognize, take a photo or obtain a specimen of it, and compare it to Web site photos of the suspected pest. A good resource to help in identification is: https://www.dontmovefirewood.org/gallery-of-pests.
  • If you believe you have found a new outbreak of an invasive insect or disease, contact your state department of agriculture: https://www.rma.usda.gov/other/stateag.html.

 

 

 

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To learn more about how to prevent forest pests from destroying forests, log onto www.dontmovefirewood.org.

 

 

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 18 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 117 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit us on the Web at www.nature.org.

 

 

Get ready for Pi Day!

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

Tomorrow is the quirky celebration of Pi day, known to geometry students world wide as “that day when our teacher finally thinks it is smart to bring a delicious pie to school.” In case you don’t get the reference, Pi day is because of the amazing never ending number 3.14(etc) that is critical to calculating the dimensions of all circles and spheres. And tomorrow is 3/14.

Why are we mentioning Pi day? Well, here at Don’t Move Firewood, we are working hard to protect your pies for generations to come. Like the traditional apple pie! Apple trees are under threat from many pests that move on firewood, including spongy moth and of course the light brown apple moth.