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BEWARE OF UNWANTED GARDEN AND TREE PESTS DURING SPRING CLEANUP

Tree-killing insects and diseases can be spread when disposing of yard waste

February 20, 2020 – On the first day of spring, the snow is finally gone (if you’re lucky) and it is time to survey the damage and debris winter has left behind in our yards. Homeowners and gardeners nationwide begin to consider the annual task of cleaning up their yards and gardens to prepare for the growing season. This past winter has brought ample snow, rain and wind in most parts of the nation, knocking down branches and even entire trees. Gardeners, landscapers, and anyone working outside this spring should be aware that tree branches, firewood, and cleared brush can harbor invasive insects and diseases, making proper use or disposal critical to preventing the spread of tree-killing pests. Many kinds of pests can emerge as the weather warms, and you don’t want to accidentally carry them to a new home.

“Even experts can’t always detect a couple of pin-head size insect eggs or a few microscopic fungus spores hidden in wood; however, these tiny threats are enough to destroy an entire forest,” said Leigh Greenwood, Don’t Move Firewood campaign manager, The Nature Conservancy.  “Disposing of tree debris, brush, and other yard waste either on site or through municipal composting is the best way that homeowners can prevent spreading tree-killing pests as they clean up their yards and gardens this spring.”

Tips for Spring Cleanup:

• If you don’t want to keep your firewood until next winter, don’t be tempted to take it with you when camping this spring or summer. Instead, you can give it to your next-door neighbor, burn or chip it on site, or dispose of it locally (50 miles is too far, 10 miles or less is best).
• Hire a tree service or rent a tree chipper to shred fallen trees and branches and brush into mulch for your own garden beds and landscaping projects.
• If you are pruning trees and shrubs, remember to dispose of wood debris locally.
• Many areas now offer a yard waste recycling program. Contact your municipal solid waste management department for information specific to your area.
• Many municipalities also offer a fall and spring “cleanup day” where they will collect seasonal waste. Check if your town participates in a cleanup day!
• If a yard waste recycling or composting program is not available, and you cannot keep it on site, brush logs, and branches, should be disposed of in a local landfill.
• Take care to respect all state and local regulations on the movement of firewood and other unprocessed wood – some areas are subject to serious fines for violations. For more information visit our Don’t Move Firewood Regulations Map.
• During your spring cleanup, if you notice an insect or tree disease you don’t recognize, take a photo or obtain a specimen of it- then look up how to report it on our Report a Pest page.

As the weather warms but the trees are still bare, take inventory of your trees and their health. Are branches shriveled up? Is that damage from a winter storm or perhaps an unwelcome pest? Look for unusual holes, late or damaged leaf buds, or a pattern of dead tips on otherwise healthy branches. Do not hesitate to report anything that looks unusual!

All of these tips and tricks can be used during fall cleanup as well!

Previous Press Release from 2013 

August is Tree Check Month! Everyone is encouraged to take 10 minutes to check their trees for signs of the Asian longhorned beetle. To help you learn about the beetle, or to provide materials for your outreach needs, we’ve rounded up all the best free resources that we could find!

Infographics and Handouts:

• Asian longhorned beetle Tree Check Infographic by USDA APHIS
• Asian longhorned beetle Fact Sheet by USDA APHIS
• Asian longhorned beetle Field Guide by Plant Heroes

Fun Outreach Items for Kids:

• Asian longhorned beetle printable mask, line drawn for coloring by Don’t Move Firewood
• Asian longhorned beetle printable mask, colored in by Don’t Move Firewood
• Asian longhorned beetle Activity Book by Plant Heroes
• Not Good to Move Firewood comic (features Asian longhorned beetle) by Plant Heroes
• Don’t Move Firewood coloring sheet featuring Asian longhorned beetle image by Don’t Move Firewood

Template text to paste into outreach statements:

• Report findings by calling 1-866-702-9938 or completing an online form at www.AsianLonghornedBeetle.com
• (Your organization can help by encouraging the public to check / You can help by checking) trees for signs of the Asian longhorned beetle in August. Look for round exit holes, shallow scars in the bark, sawdust-like material on or around tree, and the beetle itself.

Blogs and News Releases:

• USDA Declares August Tree Check Month; Urges Public To Look For Invasive Asian Longhorned Beetle 2019 press release by USDA APHIS
• Archived: August Is Tree Check Month: Public’s Help Needed to Stop the Invasive Asian Longhorned Beetle in its Tracks 2017 press release by USDA APHIS
• Archived: Do Your Part for Trees this August 2015 blog by The Nature Conservancy
• Archived: USDA Calls for Residents to Check Trees in August, Help Find and Eradicate the Asian Longhorned Beetle 2016 press release by USDA APHIS

Social Media Tips:

• Tag your posts with #TreeCheck2019 to allow your partners to track your successes!
• Look on twitter.com/hungrypests or facebook.com/hungrypests for good ideas
• Check twitter.com/StopALB or facebook.com/asianlonghornbeetle for official information
• Share and retweet current content on twitter.com/dntmovefirewood or facebook.com/dontmovefirewood for firewood related posts
• Click to download this ready-to-use image from past years:
  
• Click to download this ready-to-use image with our newer graphics look:
  

Educational Videos:

• Asian longhorned beetle YouTube Channel by USDA APHIS
• Asian longhorned beetle fast paced video guide by The Nature Conservancy
• Lurking in the Trees by The Nature Conservancy

General Information:

• Asian longhorned beetle site Press Room by USDA APHIS
• Asian longhorned beetle site Tree Check Month page by USDA APHIS
• Hungry Pests Asian longhorned beetle page by USDA APHIS

Spring yard cleaning season is well under way, and here at Don’t Move Firewood we’d like to share some pointers on how you can best dispose of your yard waste to minimize the spread of invasive species. It is important to realize that all types of yard waste- including tree branches, brush, leaves, and clippings- can potentially harbor invasive insects and diseases. Therefore, if you dispose of yard waste (sometimes also called “green waste”) incorrectly, you could unintentionally start a new pest infestation.

For smaller yard debris from your own yard, such as leafy thin branches, evergreen needles and cones, green clippings, or brushy materials, it is best to either let it break down naturally on site (whether through backyard composting, or just a standard brush pile) or through municipal composting (if available). In some areas under quarantine for emerald ash borer or Asian longhorned beetle, there are specific wood disposal areas called “marshalling yards” for safely disposing of quarantined woody waste items. It is NOT advisable to use your leafy material for fill on other properties, and of course it is never a good idea to dump it or otherwise dispose of it illegally.

For woody materials, such as tree trunks or medium-to-larger branches from your own property, these can either be chipped on site for mulch, bucked and split into firewood for use on site, or brought to a municipal composting facility (if available).

Because pest infestations can take years to be recognized by the authorities, let alone homeowners, it is critical to remember that even trees and shrubs that appear healthy could be harboring harmful organisms. Even well seasoned firewood should be used locally- preferably on site- and not taken long distances for camping.

Many states have regulations or quarantines relating to the movement of firewood- which can include things like cut logs and branches. For a complete map of firewood regulations, visit our Firewood Regulation and Recommendation Map.

Here are some tips for what to do with fallen branches or tree trunks on your property:

• Make it into firewood and use it in your own fireplace, wood stove, BBQ, or outdoors fire pit! Logs and cut branches should be split and dried in a covered stack for at least six months (and preferably longer) to “season” it. Properly dried “seasoned” firewood burns hotter and creates less air pollution.
• If you don’t want to keep this firewood on site, don’t be tempted to take it with you when camping this spring or summer. Instead, you can give it to your next-door neighbor for their home heating use, or burn or chip it on site, or dispose of it at a municipal composting facility or a quarantined area marshalling yard.
• Hire a tree service or rent a tree chipper to shred your fallen trees and branches on site into mulch to use in your own garden beds and landscaping projects.
• If a yard waste recycling or municipal composting program is not available- and you cannot leave the materials on site to break down naturally nor do you want to make it into firewood- your brush, logs, and branches should be disposed of in a local landfill.

The team at Don’t Move Firewood is excited to announce that our new radio advertisements are now available for free download! We’ve created a series of six different radio spots, appropriate for a variety of Public Service Announcement needs.

You can find all six Radio PSA spots in our Resource Library. They are available in 60 second, 30 second, and 15 second formats to fit a variety of time slots, and each length comes in two versions; one version that advises purchasing certified heat treated firewood (“Certified”), and one version that does not mention this type of firewood (“Local”). We created two versions of each length so that outreach professionals could pick the version that best suits their area. Certified heat treated firewood is not commonly available for purchase in some parts of the US and Canada (generally, central and Western states and provinces), while in other parts of the US and Canada it is very commonly available for purchase.

• • DMF PSA, 60 seconds, Certified version, Call to action is “Don’t move firewood long distances- instead, buy your firewood near where you’ll burn it, or pick up certified heat treated firewood, or do it the old fashioned way and gather wood at your campsite if its allowed.” Mentions Asian longhorned beetle and emerald ash borer.
  • DMF PSA, 60 seconds, Local version, Call to action is ““Don’t move firewood long distances- instead, buy your firewood near where you’ll burn it, or do it the old fashioned way and gather wood at your campsite if its allowed.”” Mentions Asian longhorned beetle and emerald ash borer.
  • DMF PSA, 30 seconds, Certified version, Call to action is “Don’t move firewood long distances- instead, buy your firewood near where you’ll burn it, or pick up certified heat treated firewood, or do it the old fashioned way and gather wood at your campsite if its allowed.”
  • DMF PSA, 30 seconds, Local version, Call to action is “Don’t move firewood long distances- instead, buy your firewood near where you’ll burn it, or do it the old fashioned way and gather wood at your campsite if its allowed.”
  • DMF PSA, 15 seconds, Certified version, Call to action is “Buy local, or certified heat treated firewood, or gather wood on site.”
  • DMF PSA, 15 seconds, Local version, Call to action is “Buy local firewood, or gather firewood at your campsite if allowed.”

If you have any questions about these Radio PSAs, please Contact Us. You DO NOT NEED OUR PERMISSION to use these for any educational purposes, as long as you will play your selected audio file in its entirety without modifications.

The emerald ash borer (EAB) is an invasive beetle that infests and kills ash trees in North America. Right now, the EAB is found across most of the Central and Eastern US, as well as increasingly the Great Plains and Southeastern states. Once a tree has been infested with emerald ash borer for several years, it is very difficult to save that particular tree- but if caught early enough, ash trees in yards, parks, and streets can usually be successfully treated and protected. To help your community successfully find emerald ash borer infestations before they get so severe that they cannot be treated, we need your help!

During Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week (May 20th to 26th, 2018) everyone is encouraged to take a few minutes to learn about the signs and symptoms of emerald ash borer infestation on ash trees, so that the infestations can be better managed by local tree professionals and foresters.

Here are our Top Five Resources for Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week!

1. Check out this short and awesome video on how to identify ash trees and damage from the emerald ash borer: Emerald Ash Borer ID Video
2. Do you need some more technical handouts? Check out the great reference list here at EmeraldAshBorer.info under “How to Identify EAB” 
3. Looking for kid friendly EAB resources like a coloring page or a bug mask? Look through our awesome “For Kids” page! 
4. Want something quick to download for a social media account? Here’s a fun banner that works well for Facebook, Twitter, and more: 
5. Or do you just want it all? Take a look at our Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week Toolkit, where we list all the Resources that we think can help you make it a successful week.

If you think you have found signs of emerald ash borer on your ash tree, click here to learn about how to report it in your state.

The best way to slow the spread of emerald ash borer and other forest pests is avoid moving firewood long distances. Instead, buy local firewood, buy heat treated certified firewood, or gather firewood on site when permitted.

(image credit for EAB image used in Facebook Advertisement, Spring 2018: Steven Valley, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Bugwood.org Image 5445431)

Guest blog by Paul Kingsbury, Director of Communications for The Nature Conservancy’s Tennessee Chapter

In the summer of 2013, The Nature Conservancy’s Tennessee Chapter (TNC) and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Division of Forestry (TDF) were facing a heavy lift. Emerald ash borer (EAB), spongy moth and hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) had invaded the state and were expanding their footholds. Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) could be next. How could we fight them with our limited staffs and budgets?

We started small with a strategy of raising awareness about the invasive pest threat among forestry professionals, city arborists, public land managers and the general public. We began with TDF radio PSAs, rack cards, yard signs and posters; regional outreach meetings with tree professionals; print advertising; and news stories and op-eds in Tennessee newspapers. The initial plan was to help people readily identify the pests and encourage them to call in sightings to TDF.

A breakthrough came that first summer when we created an inexpensively printed giveaway wallet card for identifying six main invasives: ALB, EAB, HWA, spongy moth, thousand cankers and sudden oak death. Tree professionals loved it! We could hardly meet the demand, and the University of Tennessee and the North Carolina Forest Service soon joined as partners to defray the printing costs and use them.

Heather Slayton of Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Division of Forestry (in uniform) with Trish Johnson of The Nature Conservancy’s Tennessee Chapter (in costume)

Even better, the National Park Service began talking with us about addressing invasive pests in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Park staff had been communicating their concerns about pests with park management and suggested a possible firewood policy. In turn, park management voiced their concerns about public reaction to such a policy change and emphasized the importance of having enough heat-treated firewood vendors to support visitors’ needs. A partnership formed where TNC could fill both of these needs and begin to enlist partners to assist in a public outreach campaign to pave the way for understanding and acceptance of the new firewood rule.

That was early 2014. Over the next year, we at TNC, TDF and NPS engaged additional partners to help us work out a multi-faceted strategy to educate park visitors. We soon had Tennessee State Parks (TSP), Tennessee Natural Areas, North Carolina State Parks, NC Forest Health, USDA Animal, Plant & Health Inspection Service(APHIS), the US Forest Service and Leigh Greenwood of TNC’s Don’t Move Firewood program on our team. Our joint objective was to prepare the public for new firewood policies in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and gain solid acceptance.
For a year, the partners deployed outreach billboards in five states that have interstates leading to the Smokies. We collaborated on FAQ documents for the web and print, posters, rack cards, ALB and EAB costumes, print ads, and online campground reservation form language—all to raise awareness about the firewood pest issue. TNC took the lead on surveying the certified firewood market, helping to encourage new retailers, and in creating a TNC web map for the public to locate vendors selling certified firewood.

Alex Wyss of The Nature Conservancy’s Tennessee Chapter in front of one of the first billboards used in the Tennessee efforts

In March 2015, NPS rolled out the new firewood policy for the Smokies. Our multi-faceted public education campaign worked! There were very few complaints from park visitors. They understood why the new rules were necessary. Following that resounding success, our Tennessee State Parks partners were soon ready to explore a new firewood policy for their parks statewide—an enormously impactful expansion of the program.

To gauge the public mood for this expansion, TNC supplied an intern who visited TSP campgrounds surveying guests about firewood and potential new policies for using certified wood. The surveys reassured TSP management that the public would likely accept and even support the policy change. In June 2016, TSP rolled out their new firewood policies. Again, the partners prepped the public with TDF radio and web PSAs and a TNC op-ed that ran in newspapers across the state, plus TDF smart-phone ads targeted to users of weather apps. Public reactions proved largely supportive with little complaint.

Meanwhile, to meet the growing demand for heat-treated firewood, in the spring of 2016 our partnership began hosting a series of free workshops for the public across Tennessee on how to run a certified, heat-treated firewood wholesale business. In these workshops, we found strong interest among budding entrepreneurs. We continue to host these workshops.

As of March 2017, our consortium of parks with protective firewood policies now includes the Blue Ridge Parkway and the US Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds in the Nashville District. Thanks to the messaging and graphics we developed through our outreach to the public for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Tennessee State Parks, roll-out of the new firewood policy has become a more turnkey operation, with a big savings in time and money for the US Army Corps.

It started out as a heavy lift, but many hands make light work! We hope that other states and larger geographies can take our approach and continue the efforts to protect the forests we all rely on for our work and play. Contact Trish Johnson, Director of Forest Conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee, for more information: trisha_johnson@tnc.org.

Guest blog by Lori Spears, Invasive Species Survey Coordinator for Utah State University Extension

Invasive species are a growing threat to our nation’s agricultural and natural resources. In Utah, nearly a dozen insect and disease pathogen pests have arrived over the last decade, including spotted wing drosophila (SWD) and brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB). These two insects  were first detected in Utah in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Although they have not yet reached economically injurious levels in Utah, they occur in fruit and vegetable production sites and have the potential for significant negative impacts. Another invasive insect, the emerald ash borer (EAB), is expected to reach Utah in the near future. EAB is known to occur in 27 eastern and mid-western states, and is rapidly expanding its range. It has not yet been found in Utah, but an infestation has been found in neighboring Boulder, Colorado. Unfortunately, research shows that EAB is generally established in an area for several years before it is detected, and so there is a chance that EAB is already present in Utah.

2017 Poster Designs for Utah Based Forest Pest Outreach

In response to new and emerging invasive insect threats, Utah’s plan for invasive pest and firewood outreach include preparing the citizens of Utah with the knowledge and skills necessary to identify potential invasive insects and/or help stop their introduction and spread. Involving everyday citizens in early detection of invasive species has been highly successful across the United States. For example, it was a trained Master Gardener who first detected the Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) in Orem, Utah, which led to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food implementing an intense eradication program to prevent its establishment. Utah’s interagency partnership group includes the Utah Plant Pest Laboratory at Utah State University (USU), USU Extension, the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, and USDA-APHIS-PPQ.

This year’s activities include:

• Conducting several First Detector Training workshops along the Wasatch Front (the greater Salt Lake City region) in Utah
• Participating in farmer markets and other community events throughout the state
• Creating and placing billboards that highlight the threats associated with invasive pests
• Designing and placing permanent outdoor interpretive signs that focus on the pathways of invasive pest spread
• Conducting a Junior Master Gardener training program, whereby youth will tie ribbons and informational tags on ash trees to emphasize the number of trees that could be killed by EAB.

Utah State University Extension staff Erin Brennan working an information booth in front of a custom Don’t Move Firewood banner at Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival, April 2017.

These activities are funded by USU Extension and/or through a cooperative agreement with USDA-APHIS-PPQ.

After reading this blog, you might also be interested in:

• Don’t Move Firewood poster with logs and fire, Utah 2017
• Don’t Move Firewood poster with tent, Utah 2017
• Utah State Firewood Summary
• Utah Working to Prevent Forest Pests, Utah guest blog from 2016

Guest blog by Corie Yanger, Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) Educational Specialist, University of Hawaiʻi Extension

If you were to ask biologists and cultural practitioners in Hawaiʻi what the most important tree is in the state, “ʻōhiʻa” would likely be the answer. Not only does ʻōhiʻa (pronounced oh-hee-yah, or oh-hee-uh) cover roughly 1 million acres across the Hawaiian Islands, it is one of the first flowering plants to establish on fresh lava flows, and a keystone species of native wet forests. Consequently, one of the largest threats to the health of Hawaiʻi’s native forest ecosystems would be a pest or disease that kills ʻōhiʻa. In the last several years, that threat has surfaced – Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD).

ROD is a fungal disease that has killed hundreds of thousands of ʻōhiʻa trees and affected more than 50,000 acres of forest in Hawaiʻi. All confirmed cases of ROD-infected trees are located on the largest island, called Hawaiʻi Island or Big Island. Prior to infecting trees on Hawaiʻi, this disease was not known to the scientific community.

Before and after photos of affected ʻōhiʻa forest canopies, photo credits: J.B. Friday

The fungus enters a tree through a wound (such as a scraped area in the bark, or a cut limb), establishes within the sapwood (where the water-conducting cells are located), and eventually stops water flow within the tree. Months or even a year may pass before the tree shows outward symptoms. ROD causes green leaves of entire trees to turn yellow, then brown, in just a few days to several weeks. This rapid progression is how the disease got its name, Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death.

Researchers recently discovered that the disease symptoms people see are actually caused by two different introduced species of fungus in the genus Ceratocystis. The species cause slightly different symptoms, but the differences are too subtle to tell apart in the field. The species are genetically unique from any other fungal species ever found associated with ʻōhiʻa, and will soon receive their own new species names.

In Hawaiʻi, ʻōhiʻa gather the rain that recharges our island aquifers. In that same way, ʻōhiʻa have also gathered scientists, managers, educators, cultural practitioners, and many more groups together to combat Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death. A large partnership of non-governmental and governmental organizations formed a ROD Working Group in 2015 to coordinate research, management, and outreach. This working group has facilitated important advances in our understanding and tracking of ROD, through aerial surveys and field detection, mapping suspect ROD-affected trees and areas, and identifying the potential vectors that most likely spread the disease.

The ROD working group has also assisted the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture by providing science-based support for a quarantine rule restricting movement of ʻōhiʻa material and soil off of Hawaiʻi Island- including the movement of ʻōhiʻa firewood and posts. A statewide ROD prevention program reaches thousands of Hawaiʻi’s residents and visitors every day through printed media, radio, internet, community talks, school presentations, landowner visits, and informational tables.

Excerpted image from “5 Things You Can Do To Reduce the Spread of ROD rack card” 

Researchers do have hope despite the severity of the ROD situation. ʻŌhiʻa is a highly variable genus with eight named varieties of Metrosideros polymorpha and four other species of Metrosideros found on older Hawaiian Islands. With such high genetic diversity ROD researchers are testing the different varieties and species to see if disease resistance exists naturally. Another area of hope lies in observations of heavily impacted forests. Where ROD-related ʻōhiʻa tree loss has been the worst, meaning 75% or greater, researchers still see living, apparently healthy trees. Future studies will test cuttings from those healthy individuals to see if the trees are resistant to ROD.

For more information, visit:

• Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death website
• Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death Community on Facebook
• Invasive Species profile on Don’t Move Firewood for Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death
• Firewood Map Summary for Hawaii