Press Release

John Dodd	(301) 734-5175
Jim Rogers	(202) 690-4755

USDA CONTINUES TO RESTRICT MOVEMENT OF FIREWOOD IN ILLINOIS

CHICAGO, Aug. 11, 2004-It's summer and time for picnics, cookouts and going camping. But, before heading to the great outdoors, the U.S. Department of Agriculture would like to remind people of the dangers of moving firewood from regulated areas in Illinois. Moving firewood out of a quarantine area can have a devastating impact on our nation's trees as it could lead to an infestation by the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB).

"Even though the Asian longhorned beetle doesn't fly great distances, it can get around by hitching a ride in infested wood," said Christine Markham, national ALB program director with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

ALB, native to China, Japan and Korea, is a voracious pest of our nation's deciduous hardwood forests and urban landscape. It deposits its eggs into healthy hardwood trees. After hatching, the developing ALB bores into healthy hardwood trees and feeds on living tree tissue during the larval stage. Later, throughout the summer, adult beetles emerge from exit holes and briefly feed on the small twigs and leaves of host trees.

ALB attacks many different hardwood trees including: all species of maple, birch, horsechestnut, poplar, willow, elm, ash, mimosa (silk tree), hackberry, London plane, sycamore and mountain ash.

Residents are asked not to move USDA regulated articles out of the quarantine areas as movement of these articles can unintentionally increase the spread of an infestation. Articles include firewood (all hardwood species), green lumber and other wood materials living, dead, cut or fallen, including nursery stock, logs, stumps, roots, branches and debris of half an inch or more in diameter of many common urban and forest trees. Transporting wood from established quarantined areas can be both a federal and state offense. Violations can be punished with federal fines of up to $250,000.

ALB was first discovered in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago in July 1998. Current ALB regulated areas in the city of Chicago include: the area south of Howard St., west of Lake Michigan, north of Chicago Ave., east of Damon Ave., north of Diversey Parkway, east of Central Park Ave., south of Bryn Mawr and east of Western Ave. Also the area in proximity to Kilbourn Park, bound by Patterson St. to the north, Knox Ave., to the east, Roscoe St. to the south and Lamon Ave. to the west.

Other regulated areas include: Park Ridge, which is bound by Davon Ave. to the north, Dee Rd. and East River Rd. to the east, the Kennedy Expressway to the south and the Des Plains River on the west; and Bensenville, which is bound by Jefferson and Waveland Streets to the south (including the Redmond Recreation Complex), O'Hare Airport's Runway 27R and Supreme Dr., to the north, US Highway 45 to the east and Thomas Dr. and Church Rd. to the west.

In the past six years, agriculture officials have had to remove and destroy more than 1,530 trees in and around the City of Chicago. The goal of the program is to prevent this highly destructive insect from spreading, and eradicate it from Illinois.

Residents are reminded to find out if they live in an area regulated for ALB before moving firewood by calling 1-800-641-3934 or (312) 74BEETL.
The public can also help by looking for the Asian longhorned beetle, which is about 1 to 1.5 inches long, has a shiny jet black body with distinctive white spots and long antennae that are banded with black and white. To report a sighting of this destructive pest, please call the phone numbers listed above.

APHIS, USDA Forest Service, Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation's Bureau of Forestry participate in the Asian Longhorned Beetle Cooperative Eradication Program.

For more information, visit the APHIS Web site at www.aphis.usda.gov, click on Asian longhorned beetle under "Hot Issues."

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