Category: Uncategorized

All about our Costume Share program

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

Are you spreading the word about invasive insects at events this summer or fall? You should consider borrowing our fantastic insect costumes!

 

What? As part of our international outreach program, Don’t Move Firewood, we offer a selection of three different forest pest related costumes for use at any well attended appropriate educational opportunity.

 

Where? Our emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, and “piece of firewood” costumes show up in some amazing places: “green” expos in Colorado, campfire chats in New Hampshire, parades in Ontario Canada, and public meetings in Ohio. Our emerald ash borer costume is especially popular at Minor League Baseball games—and we are proud to say that the EAB is already booked for the Little League World Championship this fall in Pennsylvania—a fun first for our costume share program.

 

Why? We run the costume share program because it is cost efficient, educational, and it builds partnerships. As Don’t Move Firewood expands as a campaign, we are constantly seeking to make long term connections other groups that are motivated to educate the public on the issue of forest pest movement on firewood.

 

How? Any non-profit entity can simply book one of our cool costumes by emailing our team (info@dontmovefirewood.org) with the type of event, dates needed, and contact information. From there, the team at Don’t Move Firewood takes care of all the logistics. The only cost to the costume borrower is one-way insured shipping. And in return, we merely ask for photos of the costume in use.

 

So spread the word! Become our friend on Facebook to see lots of funny pictures of our costumes in action, and if you have an event that could benefit from an eye catching four foot high firewood costume, a bright green funny emerald ash borer costume, or a (roughly) scientifically accurate Asian longhorned beetle costume, send us an email.

Wanderlust Festival and the Purple Traps

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

In the second of our series of blogs from the Don't Move Firewood summer interns, Sean ponders the meaning of yoga, donuts, purple traps, and the lack of open coffee shops at 6:30am.

 

Wanderlust: Slackasana and Purple Trap Roadtrips
by Sean Mahoney

 

This past weekend did involve a road trip to the great north woods, but nothing of the Jack Kerouac or Easy Rider sort of interactions took place. Instead the day started as most road days start for our outreach crew.

 

6am: On the road with no breakfast to be found in the sleepy towns along Route 7, but the chance to enjoy all the beauty of Vermont is all I need at this moment.

 

6:30am: Ok. All of that wishy-washy poetics about the open road and the beauty of Vermont is out the window. I’m so hungry, and why is there no food on the only highway to Vermont from western Massachusetts for 30 miles?

 

Purple Trap…

 

7am: Off in the distance a glimmer of hope emerges in the soft morning mist rising off the lake. Could it be? Yes! The sweet savory deliciousness of Donut Man off in the distance. Soon my hunger will be vanquished by a red velvet cake donut accompanied by an orange juice of exceptional temperature and quality.

 

8am: Cross the border to Vermont, the land of Ben and Jerry’s and real maple syrup.

 

Purple Trap…

 

Double Purple Trap…

 

What are these Purple Traps, you might ask? For those of you who are not among the dedicated band of forest entomologists who keep up with the happenings of Don’t Move Firewood on their lunch hour, I have included a picture of one. Perhaps you’ve seen them on your local roads?

The secret of the emerald ash borer monitoring trap is thought to be the purple coloration. Just as I was attracted to Donut Man this morning due to my hunger, an emerald ash borer is probably attracted to the purple coloration.

 

Look at the photograph below and compare it to the color of the trap above. See how the lower abdomen is a glistening purple?

 

 

The idea is the beetles are attracted to that same purple- and hence the purple traps set up in 47 states to map the spread of the EAB outbreak. If you see a purple trap in your neighborhood, you can post a picture of it on https://www.facebook.com/hungrypests.

 

Wait, where was I? Wanderlust… oh right Wanderlust.

 

Imagine this:

  •  
  • A ski hill with no snow
  • Beautiful views of the Green Mountains
  • Peace and relaxation with yoga classes running all day for an entire weekend
  • Slackasana (yoga on a slackline)
  • Acro Yoga (aka holding 120 to 200 plus pounds of yogi above your head while you both simultaneously move together)
  • A dome of Gongs that seemed to bring rain and thunder at the same point in the afternoon every day
  • A human sized emerald ash borer spreading the word about looking out for signs of invasive insects and not moving firewood
  • Some of the kindest free spirits who want to do all that they can to keep mother earth healthy including not moving firewood when they are not doing yoga

 

Natalie and I summed up the experience like this:

 

Namaste

 

-Sean

Where do I even ask this question?

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

50 states, thousands of counties, quarantines, regulations, violations, oh my! Who do you ask when you have a question that is really specific to your situation?

 

Dear Don't Move Firewood,

sun july 2nd from wind had HICKORY tree blow down, what is safe distance to move it live in lawrenceburg ky, would like to sell to B-B-Q place or like may cracker barrel want to make sure it ok.

Thanks,

Bob

 

Dear Bob,

Glad you asked. The first thing I would do is just ask some local knowledgeable authorities. Sometimes that's a division of forestry, county extension, or the state department of agriculture offices. In your case, I think asking a county extension officer is going to be an easy and quick method of figuring out if there is anything worrisome (or illegal) about moving this dead hickory tree. The University of Kentucky has a great map to help you find who to call that you can use here https://www.ca.uky.edu/county/ . One question you should certainly ask is if the movement of hardwood firewood is permissable in your county. In some counties of Kentucky, all hardwood firewood is under quarantine, so that's a big concern.

 

Good luck!

 

The interns are guest blogging!

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

Don’t Move Firewood Outreach Interns, Natalie and Sean are back in action!  They are travelling New York and New England – camped out at festivals and fairs – educating the public about how to keep America’s forests safe from invasive insects. Here’s the first chapter in their summer adventure!

 

Clearwater: Great Hudson River Revival – Overcoming the Outreach Hangover
by Natalie Garcia

 

Outreach is hard. Continuously relaying information and travelling long hours adds some wear and tear onto a summer. Needless to say, even after a year off from the Don’t Move Firewood campaign, Sean and I had a little bit of an outreach hangover – or as Sean described it, an unawareness of just how much work we would be doing and how much greasy, gross festival food we would be eating. Don’t get me wrong I am thrilled to be back, but an outreach hangover is no joke.

 

The first event was Clearwater: Great Hudson River Revival and I was eager to get the ball rolling. Our morning went as follows:

 

5:00am – Alarms goes off… “I’m getting too old for this”

5:30am – Somehow leave the house in one piece without forgetting anything

5:35am – Realize that absolutely nothing in the Berkshires (rural Western Massachusetts) is open at 5:35am

5:36am – post realization that I won’t be having any coffee – complain to Sean for the next 2 hours that I can’t believe that nothing is open*

 

As you can see, this was just the beginning of my now very large outreach hangover, but once I finally had some food and coffee I was determined to get over this hurdle. And Clearwater did not disappoint.

 

 

Over the two day event we were able to talk to more than 2,000 people about invasive pests, specifically the emerald ash borer (EAB) and the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB), and how carrying firewood with you when go camping or for any other reason can risk the health of forests and trees everywhere. Many of the festival attendees were aware of the issues, having heard us at events last year or from billboards and other PSAs. But there were many folks that we were able to talk to that hadn’t heard our message before, which is always fun, refreshing, and very exciting.

 

In addition to informing the people of Clearwater about invasive pests, I was able to hear a fantastic live swing band called Swingology, talk to some very cool and passionate individuals, and was not so disappointed by the fact that there was a great Indian food tent—not as greasy and gross as I thought!

 

So what’s the cure to an outreach hangover, you may ask? Other than having great co-workers to push you through it, enjoying the day, the people, and the events that we go to is a big part of effectively conveying an important message. Enduring Saturday’s rough morning was well worth the reward.

 

*  Yes I’ve been spoiled by the Bronx; there are 24 hour establishments there.

Construction waste as firewood

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

We’ve talked about burning cut pallets before, but what about construction waste? As always, we’ve got you covered.

Dear Don’t Move Firewood,

I work in construction and have access to large amounts of processed construction lumber fall off. Is it ok to bring some of that wood for campfires as it is no longer a tree in its natural form?

Yours, Mark

Dear Mark,

There is sometimes a gap between a regulation, and every single possible thing that could apply to that regulation. Your question is regarding “processed construction lumber fall off,” so what I’m envisioning is the little clean dry bark-free segments of 2×4 or similar dimensional lumber that get trimmed off so that the whole piece is the correct length. If that’s right, then this sort of wood product presents a very minimal risk to tree health, and it would be OK in theory to use it for camping. However- and this is a BIG however- this sort of wood may still be either under regulation in your state, or may be turned away at the campground gate. The first thing- that it may be under regulation- is because the definition of untreated firewood varies a bit, and these scraps could be included. It isn’t because they are the same, it is because of what I first said- the gap between a regulation and every single possible type of burnable wood product. Then, the second part is the campground issue. Some campgrounds will not permit the burning of scraps, pallets, or other construction types of wood. This is generally for worker safety, for fear of chemicals like arsenic, or sharp brackets that could be released in burning and cause injuries for maintenance workers.

But this is untreated wood, you protest! And it doesn’t have nails or brackets! I know, but just because yours is clean and safe doesn’t mean everyone’s is.

Anyway, the point that I’m getting at is that processed lumber scrap is fine to burn in theory, but in practice it still may be forbidden in some areas, and in some campgrounds. I would advise checking with local regulations and calling ahead to the campgrounds. A little time on the phone can go a long way.

Salvage logging after emerald ash borer?

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

Invasive forest pests come in all different types- fungi, bacteria, beetles, aphids- and all the pests we talk about are united in the fact that they will eventually kill the tree they are infesting. But what happens next? What can you do with all that standing dead timber?

 

Dear Don't Move Firewood,

I have a question about the Emerald Ash Borer. What about these loggers who go in and buy up trees in your woods?  If you have a lot of ash trees can they buy up those trees for the wood?

Yours,

Margaret

 

Dear Margaret,

Yes, in many cases, you could use a properly certified and permitted private logging operation to cut down the trees and use them for various purposes. In a quarantined area (whether a region, zone, or state) you'd have to be extremely careful to ensure that they have a compliance certificate or other legal documentation showing that their plans for cutting and moving the wood was legal and appropriate. But with proper precautions and paperwork in place, you'd be set to go. For instance, if you lived in an area with lots of ash trees, and there was a firewood producer with a kiln that meets federal certifications, you could even use it to make kiln dried firewood! Across the continent, wood harvested from areas with forest pests is used for lots of things; firewood, pellets, chips, log home timbers, and more. It is just a matter of taking the time and precautions to make sure you are doing it right, and not spreading forest pests.

 

Thanks for asking.

Yes! You’ve got it!

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

Ready for the best email we've gotten in weeks? Maybe months?

 

Dear Don't Move Firewood,

Please clarify for me – if I live in Snohomish county, it's best to get my firewood in Snohomish county? Also, I should not bring this firewood to a campsite out of my county? Thank you!

Yours,

Kathryn in Washington

 

Dear Kathryn-

Yes! That's exactly right. Exactly!

 

I bet you didn't know that the Viburnum Leaf Beetle, a major pest originally from Europe, is found in your county. And not knowing that is fine. It actually completely supports the idea that you and everyone else in the world doesn't need to know about each pest, each infestation, and each type of affected tree and shrub. You just need to know EXACTLY what you've said in your email- that wood should be burned near its origin, preferably never leaving the county or nearby region. Ideally, firewood and other untreated wood products should travel under 50 miles- and better closer to 25 or 10 miles whenever feasible. 

 

Other insects like the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug are found in the Pacific Northwest, and can hitchhike in firewood or brush. And have you heard of Sudden Oak Death? It is a really bad tree killer, found around Northern California and limited areas of Southern Oregon. You certainly wouldn't want to risk spreading that by buying untreated (and likely illegally transported) firewood from that region. But you don't need to know about these things, really. Just stick to the basics- exotic and damaging beetles, diseases, stink bugs… they can spread on firewood, unseen, unknown. So buy it where you burn it, and thanks for writing in!

Shorthand from New Hampshire

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

Great and short inquiry this week from the Granite State!

Dear Don’t Move Firewood,

Living in N.H. and would like to know if you have your own trees from yard cut down can we bring them to our campground in N.H.?

Yours, Marilyn

Editor’s Note: The original answer to this question (written in 2012) is no longer applicable. Please refer to our Firewood Map for current information on the topic of firewood and the state of New Hampshire.

All the right questions

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

I'm not sure how this ended up in my inbox, but I'm so glad they asked…

 

Dear Don't Move Firewood,

If we can't bring firewood can we purchase firewood there at the camp site and how much do we get at what price? i have reserved a place for a week and i need to know what it will take to have a fun and enjoyable birthday weekend camping and fishing.

Yours,

Lewis

 

Dear Lewis,

These are great questions! I want to highlight how smart you are- you obviously saw that you can't bring firewood to the campsite where you registered, so you are planning ahead. That's awesome. This is EXACTLY what everyone should do, with one exception, in that you accidentally emailed the wrong person. But I'm not trying to poke fun, I swear. Everyone makes mistakes. Good luck, and thanks!

 

Note to blog readers; we are emailing Lewis today personally to let him know of his error so he can contact his actual campsite.

 

On pesticides and prevention

Posted on by Leigh Greenwood

An interesting question popped into my inbox this weekend, about prevention from insect infestations, and use of pesticides.

 

Dear Don't Move Firewood,

I lost several ash trees to pests this last couple seasons here in n.w. Ohio. I am concerned about a large maple tree. Nothing visible yet but as a precaution I wonder if a treatment of Lambda-cyhalothrin would be in order. It is a product that has worked well on the beetle (lady bug). Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Yours,

Roger in Ohio

 

Dear Roger,

I'm sorry to hear about your ash trees. I don't know if they were killed by the emerald ash borer specifically, but I know that the EAB has a lot of infested areas in Northwest Ohio, so it seems likely. What may make you feel better is that your maple tree is not under immediate, urgent, threat from the Asian longhorned beetle, which is present in limited pockets near Cincinnati. Of course, that's a different part of Ohio from where you live. Therefore the preventative use of pesticides, such as you mention, is likely to be a waste of your money in this context.

 

However, in general, we here at Don't Move Firewood don't have expertise in these things- that's what a licensed, experienced, and knowledgeable tree care expert should do for you. For all I know, there are native insects that you might be facing in your part of Ohio, and judicious use of pesticides to save your favorite tree could be in order. While researching your question, I came upon an excellent short impartial guide to helping you make a decision on hiring a tree care professional (visit Hiring a Tree Care Company). I highly advise that you find a reputable and well regarded tree care professional in your area to help you with your treatment (or not) of your maple tree.

 

Good luck! And please, don't move any of the wood from your dead ash trees!