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Press Release
John Dodd |
(301) 734-5175 |
Jim Rogers |
(202) 690-4755 |
USDA CONTINUES TO RESTRICT MOVEMENT OF FIREWOOD IN NEW YORK
NEW YORK, 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 New York. 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.
In New York City, regulated areas for ALB include: all areas south
of 125th Street in Manhattan to include Roosevelt, Wards and Randalls
Islands; in Queens south of Little Neck Bay, north of the Jackie Robinson
Parkway/Grand Central Parkway, west from the Queens/Nassau line to the
East River; and in Brooklyn, south of the Queens line, north of Linden
Blvd. (Route 27)/Liberty Ave., west of 112th Street to the East River.
On Long Island, the Amityville quarantine includes the area south of
the Southern State Parkway, east of Broadway, in Massapequa, west of
Wellwood Ave., in Lindenhurst, south of East John St., west of Route
109, in Babylon, and north of the Great South Bay. The Islip quarantine
includes the area east of Brentwood Rd., in Bayshore, north of Montauk
Highway, west of Heckscher Parkway, west of Carleton Ave., in Central
Islip, south of Pear St., east of Broadway, in Brentwood, and south
of the Southern State Parkway.
To fight this destructive pest and prevent it from spreading, agriculture
officials have removed and destroyed more than 7,100 trees in New York.
The goal is to eradicate this highly destructive insect from New York.
Residents are reminded to find out if they live in an area regulated
for ALB before moving firewood by calling 1-877-STOP-ALB or 1-866-265-0301.
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, New York State Department of Agriculture
and Markets, New York Department of Environmental Conservation and New
York City Department of Parks and Recreation 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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