DNR reminds campers about firewood regulations

This Labor Day Weekend, campgrounds around the lakes will again be full of visitors. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is again urging visitors and campers not to bring out of state firewood into county or state parks and forests. Forestry experts in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and most recently, Illinois, are continuing the battle against emerald ash borer, a tiny green beetle native to China. Since its discovery in 2002, the insect has killed more than 25 million ash trees in the lower peninsula of Michigan, northern Indiana, and northern Ohio alone. Within the last two months, emerald ash borer has been found near Peru, Illinois, about 100 miles east of the Quad Cities. There is a federal quarantine that does not allow hardwood firewood of any type from the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois from coming into Iowa, and officials are taking this federal quarantine very seriously. Plenty of firewood is available locally at or near your favorite
state or county parks. Campers should contact park staff directly for local firewood sources. To date, continuing joint survey efforts by entomologists and foresters have not found emerald ash borer in Iowa.