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NEWS RELEASE l Ohio Department of Agriculture |
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Governor Bob Taft Lieutenant Governor Bruce Johnson Director Fred L. Dailey |
Communications Office8995 East Main Street • Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068 Phone: 614-752-9817 • Fax 614-466-7754 ODA URL: www.ohioagriculture.gov • e-mail: agri@agri.ohio.gov |
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Blitz Results in Confiscation of Infested Ash Tree Firewood
REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio (June 1, 2005) – State and federal agriculture officials confiscated 19 loads of firewood May 26 and 27 at two northwest Ohio firewood checkpoints to enforce a ban on firewood movement out of Ohio’s quarantined areas. Several pieces of ash firewood showed signs of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a destructive exotic insect from Asia that can be inadvertently spread through firewood.
Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, with assistance from the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio State Highway Patrol, checked nearly 3,100 vehicles, including campers and private and commercial vehicles.
Vehicles suspected of carrying firewood were pulled over, and upon inspection, firewood was confiscated and disposed of by officials. Officials issued 19 Emergency Action Notifications to drivers carrying a total of about 1,000 pieces of firewood. Violators of Ohio’s quarantine could face fines of up to $4,000 and even more severe federal fines. Both federal and Ohio laws authorize such inspections to prevent the spread of invasive species.
Firewood and ash logs represent the largest threat for the artificial spread of EAB. To date, Ohio EAB infestations have been identified in Defiance, Franklin, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Lucas, and Wood counties. To halt the artificial spread of the pest, Ohio has banned the movement of non-coniferous firewood and ash-tree materials out of quarantined areas in northwest Ohio and from Michigan into Ohio.
Ash trees infested with the EAB typically die within three to five years. The pest belongs to a group of insects known as metallic wood-boring beetles. Adults are dark metallic green in color, 1/2 inch in length and 1/8 inch wide, and fly only from early May until September. Larvae spend the rest of the year beneath the bark of ash trees, and when they emerge as adults, leave D-shaped exit holes in the bark about 1/8 inch wide.
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Media Contact: Melissa Brewer, EAB Communications, 614.728.6404
