Firewood Facts for Maine Residents
Firewood can move forest pests long distances.
- Insects and diseases can be in, on or under the bark of firewood, or even deep within the wood itself. You often cannot see if they are there.
- An invasive insect population might spread a few miles on its own in a single year.
- Moving infested wood can spread the same pest hundreds of miles in a single day.
- With global trade our forests are getting more pressure from insects and diseases inadvertently brought to North America and then moved with firewood.
What pests can be moved by firewood?
- Emerald ash borer is one of the scariest insects that can be moved with firewood. It can kill any ash in North America and has already killed millions of trees in the mid-west. This insect is found in Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Ontario and Quebec in Canada as of 2008.
- Asian longhorned beetle kills maples, birches, poplars, willows and many more trees. A very large infestation was found in 2008 in Worcester, MA, not far from Maine’s border. It is also found in New York, New Jersey and Toronto, Canada
There is a federal quarantine on all firewood in all or portions of these states and
FIREWOOD CAN NOT BE TRANSPORTED ACROSS THESE STATELINES.
- Several other serious insects and diseases attacking a variety of trees can be moved with firewood.
Did you Know?
Even within Maine, the movement of firewood is regulated to and from certain parts of the State because:
- gypsy moth - does not occur north of Houlton NOR in some other parts of North America
- hemlock woolly adelgid - only occurs in parts of York county and NOT in Canada
- larch canker - only occurs in parts of Knox, Lincoln, Washington and Waldo counties and NOT in western North America
- pine shoot beetle - does not occur in Aroostook and Washington counties NOR in southern states
What can you do to help?
- Let friends and relatives “from Away” know that they should leave their firewood at home
- Leave YOUR firewood home when you travel
- Buy wood where you burn it or buy kiln dried firewood - Don’t Give Bugs a Free Ride
