# Buy local firewood!!



## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

With Memorial Day upon us, lots of us will be packing our bags and heading out for a weekend of outdoor fun...the forecast is once again very wet, which means it will be too wet for many outdoor fires, anyway, but, please, whatever you do, DON'T take any firewood with you-please buy locally! I've seen very little on this lately, so thought I would post one of my articles that appeared in Sunday's TC RE...



GOVERNOR PROCLAIMS "EMERALD ASH BORER AWARENESS WEEK"

By Linda Gallagher

LANSING-With Memorial Day, the first of the summer holidays, right around the corner, Michigans Governor Jennifer Granholm has declared the week of May 24 as "Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week" in an effort to educate the public on the threat the exotic invasive insect poses to Michigans forests.

An Asian wood-boring beetle discovered in the Detroit area in July, 2002, the Emerald Ash Borer causes mortality in ash trees and, to date, has impacted nearly six million ash trees in the southeastern part of the state. The state of Michigan is home to an estimated 700 million green, white, and black ash trees. 

A quarantine placed on the movement of all ash tree materials and firewood was extended in late March to include 8 "outlying" counties of Michigan in southern and western Michigan as well as 13 southeastern Michigan counties originally quarantined in August of 2003. 

Said Dan Wyant, Director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture, which is overseeing the states eradication strategy, at the time the quarantine was extended, "In order to be successful, however, this effort also requires the awareness and cooperation of all Michigan residents, especially those doing business, living or visiting any area included in the quarantine."

The effort was apparently not enough to prevent the spread of the insect to ash trees in Roscommon County, where EAB was found to be present near St. Helen in Richfield Township in early April. The discovery was the first time the insect has been discovered in northern Michigan.

A public meeting was held May 14 to inform Roscommon County residents of what steps will be undertaken to rid the area of the pest. "We are very concerned about this northern Michigan discovery," said Sara Linsmeier-Wurfel, a spokesperson for MDA. "EAB is known to be a very fast-spreading infestation. However, in our favor and that of the forests of northern Michigan is the fact that there are not a lot of ash trees in the area where the beetle was initially discovered, and we are hoping that the infestation there can be isolated and contained."

Containing the St. Helen infestation will involve not only removing every infected tree, but also all other ash trees within 100 yards, and testing of all ash trees within half a mile of the infected area.

Although it isnt known exactly how the Roscommon County infestation, which was discovered by a visiting MSU Master Gardener, was introduced, it is thought that the beetles arrived in firewood from downstate Michigan, Wurfel said. 

In addition to declaring a public, statewide Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week, Governor Granholm proclaimed a state of emergency regarding the infestation on April 30, which will allow the state to seek federal disaster relief funds. "Because our dead and dying ash trees are in very close proximity to homes, businesses, schools, and other facilities, I want to prevent personal injury and property damage by taking proactive action to remove any threat posed by the affected ash trees," Granholm said. "Collectively, we simply dont have the financial, human, and material resources needed to tackle a problem of this magnitude. Federal assistance is necessary to prevent a catastrophic threat to our local communities."

Response and mitigation expenditures are expected to exceed $163,134,750.00.

"With the start of the summer season, when millions of people will be traveling all over the state of Michigan, it is critical that everyone be aware of the presence of EAB in southern Michigan, and not transport any live ash nursery stock, ash chips, ash lumber or firewood of any timber species from one area of the state to another," said Wurfel. "Public awareness, along with vigilant containment and enforcement, is the only way the state of Michigan will be able to protect our forests from the potential devastion of the Emerald Ash Borer."






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Linda Gallagher
Columnist, Michigan Outdoor News
[email protected]


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## Erik (Jan 17, 2000)

For anyone that might be wondering what an ash borer looks like, or how to indentify an ash tree and/or infestations I found this link while researching the subject the other day. Thought it was well put together and informative.
Emerald ash borer
Hope they don't show up in our woods. Sounds like they are very close.


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## snakebit67 (Oct 18, 2003)

bump


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## victor mi pro bowhunter (Feb 12, 2001)

very well said Linda G


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