Emerald ash borer quarantine expands into parts of central Ohio

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio – The Ohio Department of Agriculture will expand its emerald ash borer quarantine to control the ash tree-killing insect.
It is now illegal for citizens to take ash tree material and firewood out of Orange Township, Delaware County.
The department’s quarantine prohibits the movement of potentially infested material (ash logs, ash trees, ash tree nursery stock, non-coniferous firewood) to halt the artificial spread of emerald ash borer.
Businesses or woodlot owners within the quarantined area interested in marketing and transporting ash trees out of the quarantined area can do so only with an ODA-approved compliance agreement.
Violators face fines up to $4,000.
Quarantine violations. Fulton, Hancock, and Wood county courts recently found 13 individuals guilty of violating Ohio’s emerald ash borer quarantine.
The court system fined nine Ohio residents and four Michigan residents nearly $1,600 total for moving firewood out of Ohio’s quarantined areas.
Bowling Green Municipal Court in Wood County ordered six Ohioans to pay court costs after being convicted of moving firewood out of quarantined areas in northwest Ohio.
Violators included: Michael Folk, Oregon, Ohio; William Lynn III, Bowling Green, Ohio; and Jacob Gentry, Matthew Hays, Brian Laurie, and Erick Schmidt, all of Toledo.
Findlay Municipal Court in Hancock County ordered Michael McConoughey, Toledo, to pay a $150 fine after McConoughey was found guilty of carrying firewood out of Ohio’s quarantined area.
Fulton County Court fined Lynn Gauther, Toledo, and Troy Masters, Pioneer, Ohio, for quarantine violations.
Both individuals were found guilty of illegally moving firewood and were fined $150 plus court costs.
Michigan residents. Fulton County Court also ordered four Michigan residents to pay $150 fines and court costs after violating Ohio’s quarantine and moving firewood from Michigan into Ohio.
The violators are John Armstrong and Michael Balent, both of Tecumseh, Mich.; Ronald Benham, Britton, Mich.; and Jerry White, Adrian, Mich.
State and federal quarantined areas have been established in all or parts of 14 Ohio counties, seven infested counties in Indiana, and all of Michigan to halt the artificial spread of emerald ash borer.
Firewood is a major source contributing to the spread of this devastating pest.