Congratulations to the smart folks that worked tirelessly to pass a firewood preventative measure in Oregon! Starting in a little over a year, firewood that is sold in Oregon will need to either be from a neighboring state, or kiln (high heat) dryed and labeled. Here at Don't Move Firewood, we think this is a great step forward to protect the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and we'll be working to spread the word about this law- and any information how the preparation for implementation goes in 2012- as we learn more!

The California Forest Pest Council has a press release out today, and I wanted to share it in its entirety because I think it is an excellent example of a collaborative group that is doing great preventative work. Nice job!

News Release

HELP KEEP CALIFORNIA FORESTS HEALTHY - KEEP FIREWOOD LOCAL

Date: September 29, 2011

A new study was published on Friday the 9th about the economic impacts of forest insects and diseases. One thing that really struck me from the article was this line from the Abstract, "Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years."

In honor of EAB awareness week, here's the top resources to help you learn what you need to know about the little green beetles that eat ash trees.

1. Start at Emeraldashborer.info

2. View our new computer animation of the EAB - firewood connection, and many other videos, on our YouTube channel.

The city of Chicago has a new pest to deal with; the Emerald Ash Borer.

The city of Chicago has a new pest to deal with; the Emerald Ash Borer. Small, bright green, and highly damaging to ash trees, the "EAB" is a huge economic and environmental threat.

Read this article from the Chicago Tribune- it shows how the city is being proactive. Their quick response will be hugely important for the residents of Chicago and surrounding areas.

Emerald ash borer preparations are underway in Connecticut, thanks to the smart work highlighted in this recent article by TheDay.com Connecticut.

My favorite part of the article, naturally, was this;

Movement of firewood is a main means of transport for the pest to new locations, although adult ash borers can also fly up to several miles.

Any reader of Don't Move Firewood knows that once a pest is in North America, one of the ways they move is on contaminated firewood. But do you know how those pests get here in the first place?

Pallets, crates, those giant wooden spools, and certain kinds of live plants can harbor infestations, and thus bring in forest pests when they are moved or imported. And of course, these things can come from far away (like China or Russia) or they can come from a pre-existing infestation closer to home (like Canada).

At least one great article came out of our recent press release for Don't Move Firewood- The Tennessean featured a story named Using firewood from more than 50 miles away can harm TN trees. The article has a lot of good suggestions and used a lot of material from our press release.

Don't Move Firewood is mentioned in the November 2010 publication of Martha Stewart Living, and we sure are proud!

On page 162 of this month's Martha Stewart Living (available on news stands now!), Don't Move Firewood is listed as a resource for What You Can Do to help fight, as they call it, arboreal blights. Here at Don't Move Firewood, we tend to say just plain old "tree-killing insects and diseases" but however you want to phrase it, it is exciting.

Bed bugs are creepy little things that are spreading like crazy because of increasingly mobile people in a fast paced, internationally fluid world of commerce, travel, and human movement.

Sound familiar? Same thing with forest pests. So let's compare:

Bed bugs; common in other countries

Invasive forest pests; come from other countries

Bed bugs; resurgence from more internation movement of people and goods