Don't bring firewood when you camp

[fgoodwin]

Don't bring firewood when you camp

 

http://tinyurl.com/35yn6s

 

By DAVID TIRRELL-WYSOCKI, Associated Press Writer

Thu May 24, 9:35 AM ET

 

CONCORD, N.H. - As millions of Americans pack for their first camping trips of the season this weekend, foresters hope they will leave one thing behind: firewood.

 

The U.S. Forest Service and state forestry agencies around the country say transporting firewood lets tree-killing insects hitch a ride into the woods, contributing to billions of dollars in damage and needless work each year.

 

"While some insect species might spread 40 miles in a year by natural migration, a person hauling infested firewood from home to camp could move a species hundreds of miles in a single day. It's like making the jump to light-speed for the bug," said Bernie Raimo, the Forest Service's forest health group leader in the Northeast.

 

Officials advise campers to get firewood at or near their destinations instead.

 

Invasive insects cause about $120 billion in forest damage, lost revenue and prevention expenses each year, said Glenn Rosenholm, a Forest Service spokesman based in New Hampshire.

 

Most invasive insect species are introduced to North America from Asia and Europe via international trade. The invaders often have no local predators, allowing them to flourish unchecked.

 

And they are getting plenty of help moving to new areas.

 

New Hampshire learned in a recent survey that nearly half its campers come from other states. And about half of all campers brought firewood from home, including some who came from as far away as California and Ontario, Canada.

 

In Minnesota, state surveys show that about half of the vehicles that visit parks overnight carry firewood about 50,000 loads of potentially infested wood in 2005.

 

Wood from infested or dying trees often is packed as firewood.

 

"Chances are you would eventually cut it down, and if you are going camping, you couldn't find better firewood from a tree that was dying and drying out," said Dennis Souto, a Forest Service entomologist.

 

Many states are facing a common enemy the emerald ash borer, an insect that has infested about 40,000 square miles in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Maryland and Ontario Province and killed more than 20 million ash trees.

 

The borer is a metallic-green beetle about a half-inch long. Its larvae feed on the layer of wood just beneath the bark, cutting off water and nutrients.

 

The Forest Service and state agencies are spreading the word to campers around the country to prevent the insect from doing more harm. If public education does not work, they say bans similar to those already in place in the Midwest might follow.

 

Several Midwestern states ban firewood from out of state, and others are considering bans, Rosenholm said. When a new emerald ash borer outbreak is detected, states often ban the movement of firewood altogether.

 

Part or all of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Maryland are covered by federal and state quarantines to try to prevent infested lumber or wood products from being shipped out.

 

Some states also have quarantines to prevent lumber and wood movements within their state lines. At least a dozen states, from Maryland and Virginia to the Dakotas, also have announced voluntary or mandatory restrictions specifically on imported campfire wood.

 

Still, the emerald ash borer outbreak is spreading, with two new discoveries just this week in Ohio, said Sharon Lucik, a federal Agriculture Department spokeswoman.

 

"It's being spread through people who camp, through the movement of nursery stock and through the movement of green lumber such as ash logs with bark," she said.

 

In addition to publicizing the firewood issue through the media, Wisconsin is advising people who live in Minneapolis and Chicago and own cabins in Wisconsin not to bring firewood from home.

 

Maryland has sent letters to hundreds of Ohio and Michigan residents who own land in forested western Maryland, urging them to leave their wood at home.

 

New Hampshire makes the request in letters confirming reservations at campgrounds.

 

"We are trying any and all avenues to communicate with people," Rosenholm said.

 

___

 

On the Net:

 

http://www.emeraldashborer.info (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[Trevorum]

This is called "Bring No Trace".

[local1400]

Our motto here in the mountains is "Take your Trash, Leave your Cash"

[GernBlansten]

Gosh, I heard that on the radio today.

 

I've been trying to condition the scouts that someday, campfires will only be a memory. The insect thing does make sense though and we all know that the majority of campers we come across do not practice LNT with campfires.

 

In Outdoor Leadership Training I took last year, the instructors were pushing campfires are ceremonial, stoves are for cooking, clothes are for warmth.

[dan]

I live in Illinois in kane county in the subdivions where the emerald ash borer was found, the state is planning on removing 1700 trees this year. What is funny, it that they are only going to remove the ones close the roads or easy to get at, where the trees are thickest they are not even going to try. We have not been able to take fire wood with us on campouts for 2 years. We have been using a lot charcol.

[Lisabob]

I live in Michigan. It is illegal around here to transport fire wood from one part of the state to another and also across state lines to OH and IN (not sure about other neighboring states, but probably them too). Emerald Ash Borer is the reason, has been for a couple of years as dan mentioned.

[SSScout]

Being in a semi=urban area, the sites for our WebWeekend and Camporees have no firewood at all, down to pick up or dead to cut down. We have to bring it in, cook over "oil can" grills off the ground or gas stoves. Evening campfires are usually shipping pallets torn up and stacked up. Now these pallets are usually seasoned oak, and boy do they burn pretty, you risk a first degree burn or at least a good instant tan if you sit too close in the front row.

" Leave No Trace"? Naturely speaking perhaps, but I'd like to think I'm leaving a little trace in the spirits of the boys I work with.

 

Somebody could develope a good SMMinute about that. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.....

[evmori]

I've been trying to condition the scouts that someday, campfires will only be a memory.

 

Why? Campfires are one of the best parts of camping trips.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[Trevorum]

I certainly agree with Ed.

 

Last Saturday evening my two sons and I were bored watching TV so we had an impromptu campfire. We just sat and talked. My oldest son remarked that there is something special about firelight, something mellow and comforting about the flickering yellow glow that encourages people to share stories and allows them to bond.

 

Campfires are an essential part of Scouting.

 

 

[GernBlansten]

In most situations (unless extraordinary measures are taken), campfires violate LNT and should never be part of low impact back-country camping. There's nothing more disheartening to find the perfect campsite only to find a trash and ash filled fire ring 3 times the necessary size taking up the best tent site.

 

In my area, wildfire dangers are usually so high during the camping season, they are outlawed anyways, even in developed campsites, winter and spring being the only seasons wet enough to be permitted. Our council summer camps don't have traditional campfires, replacing the ceremonial nightly campfire with a propane fueled log.

 

Fire building is a great survival skill we should be teaching our scouts, but we also need to make them aware of increasing restrictions and impact these campfires cause.

If we are camping outside developed campsites, chances are we will have a cold camp. Last summer, we spent 7 days in the Northern Tiers without a single campfire (wildfire danger). Heading to Philmont next month for 12 days, I don't expect to have a single campfire there either. Those of us in the western US just have to get used to not having campfires at every campout.

 

Campfires are ceremonial. Stoves are for cooking. If you're cold, put on a sweater.

[ScoutNut]

If we have no trees, the lack of campfires will be the least of our worries!

 

Most campsites will sell you firewood. There is no reason to fill cars up with your own, potentially infected, wood. Fill them up with more scouts & their equipment instead!

[SR540Beaver]

Transport firewood?! Good Lord, we have 65 boys in the unit. Transporting boys, adults and two trailers of gear is already hard enough without loading up a bunch of heavy firewood too.

 

I love campfires as much as anyone else and really miss them as I feel they add something special to the experience. We rarely if ever have campfires except for a small fire for our campfire program on Saturday evening. You'd have to have a bonfire to accomodate 40 to 50 people on a campout or have 5 or 6 patrol fires. That is just too many to have to maintain and manage. Our campouts are planned and scheduled by the boys and revolve around program. There just isn't much time to hang around a fire and you can't leave it burning if you are out climbing or hiking.

 

I do miss them though.

[dan]

GernBlansten

I was amazed at the number of campfires I saw at Philmont. Many campsites have campfire rings, but we could not use them, because of the fire danger, the week before we where there fires where allowed.

We will be hiking in your next of the woods this year, hiking out of Estes park, we already know that campfires are not allowed.

The only High Adventure trip that I have been on that was complete LNT in my mind was Double H. I did not see one campfire or campfire scar or ring.

 

[Trevorum]

Gern, I agree that not every outing needs a campfire. We should assiduously teach backcountry ethics and LNT to our scouts for use as may be appropriate. Perhaps my notion of "ceremony" is broader than yours, so I stand by my statement:

 

"Campfires are an essential part of Scouting."

[GernBlansten]

Trev,

Don't get my wrong. I like campfires ... kinda ... I guess I tolerate them. I don't like the smoke that always follows me, the smell of my clothes the next week, the fact that the scouts most interested in starting the fire are not the same ones who want to stay up tending it, the constant reminding of young scouts that what goes in the fire stays in the fire. Aside from all that, they are ok, but I could live an equally fruitful life without them.