REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio – A change in the state’s emerald ash borer quarantine now prohibits the movement of all nonconiferous firewood out of regulated areas in Ohio and Michigan, announced Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Fred Dailey.
The regulatory change will help prevent further spread of the destructive exotic pest, originally from Asia.
Movement. The quarantine, which previously restricted the movement of only ash species firewood, now prohibits the movement of all nonconiferous firewood and any ash trees, logs, branches, bark, wood chips, and other ash materials out of the state’s regulated areas.
Violators of the quarantine could be fined up to $4,000.
Regulated areas. Currently, Ohio’s regulated areas include: Hicksville Township in Defiance County, and the sections of Lucas County northwest of the Maumee River; Fulton County east of state Route 109; and Henry County east of state Route 109 and north of the Maumee River.
An Ohio ban also prohibits the movement of ash materials and nonconiferous firewood from Michigan into Ohio.
Ash materials and nonconiferous firewood from nonregulated areas in Ohio can be taken into regulated areas, but once taken in, the materials cannot leave.
Identified. To date, emerald ash borer infestations have been identified in Defiance, Franklin, Fulton, Henry, Lucas, and Wood counties.
The pest was first identified in Ohio in Lucas County in 2003.
Since then, Ohio Department of Agriculture has eradicated the pest from Franklin County and continues to eradicate and regulate in the additional five counties.
Ash trees. Ash trees infested with the emerald ash borer will typically die in three to five years.
The pest belongs to a group of insects known as metallic wood-boring beetles.
Adults are dark metallic green in color, a half inch in length and 1/8 inch wide, and fly only from early May until September.
Larvae spend the rest of the year beneath the bark of ash trees, and when they emerge as adults, leave D-shaped exit holes in the bark about 1/8 inch wide.
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