Corps remains concerned about firewood helping spread invasive beetle

Published Aug. 29, 2016
Headed for a weekend camping trip at a Corps lake? Remember to get your firewood locally near the campground or use certified pest free firewood. The emerald ash borer is an invasive species that is often found hitching a ride to our park areas in firewood by unknowing park visitors. Emerald ash borers have already killed more than 70 million green ash trees in the United States. Help prevent the spread of the emerald ash borer and other invasive tree-killing pests. remember "Buy It Where You Burn It."

Headed for a weekend camping trip at a Corps lake? Remember to get your firewood locally near the campground or use certified pest free firewood. The emerald ash borer is an invasive species that is often found hitching a ride to our park areas in firewood by unknowing park visitors. Emerald ash borers have already killed more than 70 million green ash trees in the United States. Help prevent the spread of the emerald ash borer and other invasive tree-killing pests. remember "Buy It Where You Burn It."

KANSAS CITY, Mo. ¾ The invasive emerald ash borer continues to cause concern among U.S. Army Corps of Engineers natural resource managers who ask the public not to bring firewood from home to public wildlife lands and unknowingly transport the insect to new areas.

Regulatory agencies and the U. S. Department of Agriculture have established and are enforcing quarantines with substantial fines to prevent potentially infested ash trees, logs or hardwood firewood from moving out of areas where emerald ash borers occur.

Always remember to “Buy It Where You Burn It” – get firewood at or near the area where you will be having a campfire. 

“In the Kansas City District, the green ash tree is one of the most common trees found in forests on our project lands and provides important habitat on our wildlife lands and shade in our recreation areas,” said David Hoover, a conservation biologist for the Corps.  “The emerald ash borer will have a significant impact on those resources and recreational opportunities and we need the help of our project visitors to slow the spread of this destructive pest.” 

The emerald ash borer is a small metallic green colored beetle first discovered in the U.S. in 2002. The beetle has spread across most eastern and Midwestern states and is presently in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. Adult beetles nibble on ash foliage and cause little damage, but the larvae feed on the inner bark of ash trees, disrupting the tree's ability to transport water and nutrients, eventually killing the tree. The insects are responsible for the death of hundreds of millions of ash trees in North America.   

For information on recreation at Kansas City District lakes visit http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/Locations.aspx

For information on Corps efforts to combat invasive species nationwide, visit

http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental/Invasive-Species-Management/ .

 

 

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Contact
Public Affairs Office
(816) 389-3486
Kansas City, Mo.

Release no. PA-2016-43