Attention: Campers and Picnickers

“Why shouldn’t I bring in firewood from outside states?”

The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a beetle from Asia, was discovered in 2002 in southeastern Michigan. Since that time, the beetle has successfully spread to parts of Canada, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia (2007) and Virginia (2008). Nursery trees, infested with this beetle pest have also been found in Maryland and Virginia. No native predators of the EAB are present in North America and spread of the beetle is difficult to control in natural settings.

The EAB feeds on ash trees with devastating results. As of 2005, the EAB is responsible for the death or decline of some 15 million ash trees in a 20-county area around Detroit. Ash trees are a significant component of the Park’s forest. They occur (at some level) in many vegetation communities in the park. These communities make up 65% of the park’s acreage. The EAB has the ability to kill millions of ash trees just as the hemlock woolly adelgid has killed millions of hemlock trees in the eastern United States.

As a result, Shenandoah National Park has decided to implement a voluntary compliance program to minimize the transport of firewood into the park and to reduce the potential for EAB introduction.

Our objectives of the voluntary compliance program are to:

1) Educate visitors about the threat of EAB introduction and the alternatives to bringing in firewood from outside areas. Remember, firewood should be procured locally (e.g. firewood is available from the park concessionaire, supermarkets, local campgrounds, etc.).  Note:  If you are gathering firewood from inside the park, all wood must be dead and down.

2) Minimize the threat of EAB introduction into Shenandoah National Park.

www.emeraldashborer.info/

Did you Know?

That certain areas within Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana (all states where Emerald Ash Borer has been found) are currently under a federal firewood transport quarantine established by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is felt that EAB may be resident in the wood and could be spread through firewood transport to un-infested areas like Shenandoah National Park. 

How will things be different in the campgrounds and picnic areas?

Park staff will be doing informal surveys of visitors to find out if they have brought firewood with them from outside areas. 

EAB pest information will be posted throughout park campgrounds and picnic areas. 

If park staff determines that a visitor has brought in firewood from a quarantine area:

1) The park staff will explain to the visitor why we are concerned.

2) The park staff will make a recommendation that the visitor burn his/her firewood onsite in their fire ring immediately.

It is imperative that these actions be taken quickly in order to minimize the possibility of EAB pests relocating themselves from the firewood into the Park.