Pack Hot Dogs, Not Firewoood

The campfire – what would summer time and camping be like without the crackling of a campfire? Many of us have pleasant memories of roasting marshmallows, watching the flames dance, or cooking fish over hot coals. But, with camping season, employees of the Allegheny National Forest (NF) have a new, dangerous concern: the camper who brings a load of firewood from home. Dangerous insects are hitchhiking rides to new areas when firewood is moved by campers. You can help protect the forest by not moving firewood.

All the following insects are dangerous because they are non-native insects and our native trees do not have any natural defenses against them. Non-native means that this insect came from outside this part of the United States or another country. The four most dangerous insects are:

· The Emerald Ash Borer kills ash trees.




· The Sirex Woodwasp kills pine trees.




· The Asian Longhorned Beetle kills maple trees, but also kills birches, poplars, willows, elms and horsechestnut.




· The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid kills hemlock trees.


Forest employees are particularly concerned now that a dangerous beetle has been discovered north of Pittsburgh and in eastern Ohio. The states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and southern Michigan have quarantines on the movement of firewood outside of those states. A quarantine means it is illegal