Category: Uncategorized

Dear Don’t Move Firewood,

I have a ton of 2 x 4 pieces to burn. Are those ok to bring to a campground?

Yours,

Avid Lumber User

Dear Avid Lumber User,

Someone must have put out “the Bat Signal” for 2 x 4s as firewood this week, because you are the fourth person to email me about this since Friday. So let’s set the record straight on cut scrap 2 x 4 ends!

From a practical perspective, commercially kiln dried clean scraps of lumber (also called dimensional lumber) are a pretty safe alternative to traditional cut firewood. Because they are bark-free, and are usually stored indoors, this is a very low risk wood choice.

However, from several other perspectives, they become a problem. Here’s a quick breakdown of the issues:

• Some campsites ban what they consider “construction scraps” to protect the safety of their maintenance workers. Even if YOUR 2×4 scraps don’t have sharp nails and brackets and screws in them, they might be banned anyways.
• Scrap wood stored outside can absolutely still have hitchhitching forest pests on or in it. For instance, spongy moths will readily lay eggs on wood scraps.
• Wood scraps can fall into a grey area in terms of the legality of moving firewood across certain borders. You don’t want to think something is legal, only to find out that you could be subject to fines for moving just a bit of scrap wood.
• Treated wood is highly toxic when burned. Make sure to keep any treated wood separated from the clean 2x4s pile to avoid accidentally burning hazardous chemicals like arsenic.

So what’s our formal opinion on 2 x 4 scrap lumber bits for firewood? Its fine for home use, backyard use, and local campgrounds when permitted. But because it brings up a lot of questions when moved farther or across borders, it’d be best to restrict using 2x4s to your nearby campgrounds, and call ahead.

For information on a related topic, burning pallets, see our 2013 blog “What about burning pallets?”

Dear Don't Move Firewood,

I am on the Board of Directors for my community in (town near Denver), Colorado, and I want to spread the word to my community about moving firewood. I am unclear on one thing: Is firewood bought from the grocery store, or a big box store, okay if it is sourced from far away? Thank you!

Concerned Citizen

Dear Concerned Citizen,

You are right to be a little perplexed about how and if large stores purchase firewood wisely. While large stores are going to be very careful to source their firewood supplies legally, the legal rules in place actually aren't fully protective against certain forest pest situations. For instance, many forest pest infestations take years to be discovered- and all that time, firewood could be shipped hundreds of miles away to be sold at your town's chain gas stations, large grocery stores, and "big box" retailers. Likewise, native forest pests could be present and not subject to quarantines- yet moving these pests hundreds or even thousands of miles in firewood can pose a very real risk to forests and trees.

I inquired with my colleague Mitch Yergert, Director of the Colorado Division of Plant Industry, to see what his official statement might be for Colorado firewood. He said, "Because there are no national firewood regulations, we have no way of knowing what pests firewood imported from outside of Colorado may be harboring.  Therefore it is much better to purchase firewood produced locally so that the chance of moving plant pests is greatly reduced."

This bring us to- what is local? when is firewood actually local? That's a really tricky question- in Wisconsin, the regulation is 10 miles from wood source to burn location. In many states, the guideline or regulation is 50 miles. For Colorado, the guidelines are not mileage specific, but instead authorities suggest "as close as possible" whenever feasible, and always from within the state of Colorado itself. Additionally, because of the presence of both non-native and native forest pests (emerald ash borer, thousand cankers disease, mountain pine beetle) in Colorado trees, it is extremely important for Coloradoans never to take firewood with them out of state, or even to different communities within the state.

The one notable exception to these out-of-state concerns is wood that is certified as heat treated, with USDA-APHIS heat treatment seal on it. This wood is heated in a kiln to a specific high temperature, for a set duration of time to "cook", which kills all potential pests in the wood. Packaged and labeled heat treated wood like this is safe to use even if it is from many states away. However, wood with a certified heat treatment seal is not widely available in Colorado, so it isn't a great solution to the general regional question. (Learn more about heat treated firewood, and how it is not the same as just kiln dried firewood, here)

Best of luck with your educational efforts!

Dear Don’t Move Firewood,

I would like to bring some hickory wood chips (from a tree on my property in Virginia) to Colorado for my son to use for smoking meat. I don’t want to move any infestation to Colorado, but hickory does not seem to be on any Virginia or Colorado site as a problem tree and as these are just chips, so would it be okay to transfer them to him? (ed. note: lightly edited for clarity)

Yours,

Virginia Resident

Dear Virginia Resident,

At first glance, bringing hickory chips from Virginia to Colorado seems like it might be OK- but it is actually in violation of the North American Spongy Moth quarantine. Because spongy moth egg sacs are commonly laid on all sorts of trees in Virginia (including hickory trees), and because the egg sacs are pretty small and could easily pass undamaged through a chipper, you can’t bring hickory chips from your tree in Virginia to your son’s place in Colorado.

Here’s a complete explanation provided by John Kaltenbach with the Colorado Department of Agriculture:

“This is actually a very good example of a risk that is not so obvious. We do not have Hickory in Colorado, but we also do not have spongy moth. There is a federal quarantine for the European spongy moth (Lymantria dispar)  that includes most of Virginia (see map). Anything that the spongy moth can lay eggs upon is subject to the USDA spongy moth quarantine and is not to be moved without treatment. Hickory is a host tree for spongy moth, so that increases the possibility that spongy moth egg masses could be laid on the hickory tree being cut down. One spongy moth egg mass may have up to 500 eggs and some will survive chipping.

While this may seem like an unlikely transfer of pests, that is how many of them have traveled across the country. Twenty years ago Colorado had two separate infestations of spongy moth that were successfully eradicated. We do not want to spend the time and effort eradicating this pest again.”

Here are some good resources:

• Extensive listing of information on both Asian and European spongy moth
• Current map of European spongy moth quarantine areas
• For information on treatment and compliance with the plant pest quarantines in Virginia contact the USDA, SPHD at (804) 771-2042
• Colorado’s Don’t Move Firewood Regulations and Recommendations Summary
• Virginia’s Don’t Move Firewood Regulations and Recommendations Summary