Comment invited on forest protection

NEW YORK STATE — The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has proposed making permanent a regulation to restrict the import, sale and transport of untreated firewood to aid in the fight against the spread of tree-killing pests and diseases.

A public comment period on the DEC’s proposal runs through February 9, 2009. The DEC encourages interested parties to weigh in on the proposal—which can be viewed on the DEC website—at two public hearings or through written comments.

New York’s forests are under attack from numerous invasive insect pests. Over the years, the state has been hit with chestnut blight, European gypsy moth, Dutch elm disease and beech bark disease, all with devastating results. More recently, DEC has discovered Asian long-horned beetles and Hemlock wooly adelgids infesting urban and rural forests and killing thousands of trees. Another potentially devastating insect invader, the Emerald Ash Borer, has been moving east from Michigan and has been found in Pennsylvania and near Montreal, Canada.

One of the easiest and most common ways for these pests to spread is by the unintentional transportation of infested firewood. Insects nesting in logs can hitchhike hundreds of miles, then escape to infect new timber stands. During the camping season earlier this year, New York adopted an emergency regulation that banned the import and limited the movement of untreated firewood. The DEC now has proposed to make the regulation permanent. Under the regulation, only firewood cured by heating to a core temperature of 71 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Fahrenheit) for 75 minutes can be moved without restriction. The regulation restricts intrastate movement of untreated firewood to no more than a 50-mile radius from its source.

Written comments and comments made at the public meetings are treated equally. The hearings are slated for January 14, 2009, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Pine Bush Discovery Center at 195 New Karner Road in Albany, NY and on January 20, 2009 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Reinstein Woods Environmental Education Center, 93 Honorine Drive in Depew, NY.

Written comments regarding the proposal can be submitted by email to firewood@gw.dec.state.ny.us or by snail mail to Bruce Williamson, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, 625 Broadway, 5th Floor, Albany, NY 12233

For more information about the emergency firewood regulation visit dec.ny.gov/press/44364.html.