Hunting or camping this fall? Don’t pack firewood
Fast Facts
- Moving firewood gives invasive pests a free ride
- Buy firewood where you plant to burn it
- Public service announcement video at http://youtu.be/4lzUXzt0IME
LITTLE ROCK -- With cooler temperatures and colorful forests beckoning, many people are taking to Arkansas’ woodlands to hunt, fish or go camping. The one thing they should take with them is this message -- don’t bring firewood.
“Think of each log of firewood as tour bus for invasive pests like the emerald ash borer,” said Tamara Walkingstick, associate director of the Arkansas Forest Resource Center, part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “Even if you cannot see any insect hitchhikers on firewood, doesn’t mean there aren’t tiny eggs or even fungal spores that you might be introducing to a new home.”
“In addition to giving you more space, buying firewood where you plan to burn it can save our forests,” she said.
With an emergency quarantine on the movement of wood in effect for 25 counties, many favorite deer camps, fishing holes or campgrounds are within the affected area. (See the map at: http://www.emeraldashborer.info/documents/MultiState_EABpos.pdf)
Contact the Arkansas State Plant Board for full quarantine details at: 501-225-1598 or eab@aspb.ar.gov.
For more information about forestry, visit www.uaex.uada.edu or contact your county extension office.
The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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By Mary Hightower
The Cooperative Extension Service
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Media Contact: Mary Hightower
Dir. of Communication Services
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2126
mhightower@uada.edu
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