MADISON – The entire state of Wisconsin will be placed under quarantine for emerald ash borer, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection announced today. The quarantine will be effective Friday, March 30. Until now, quarantines have been imposed county by county, but now that EAB is in 48 of the state’s 72 counties, officials have decided a statewide quarantine is warranted. However, they still discourage moving firewood within the state. “The county-by-county quarantines have helped slow the spread of EAB over the past decade,” said Brian Kuhn, director of DATCP’s Plant Industry Bureau. “They gave communities time to plan and spread the costs of removing and replacing trees on a schedule ahead of the infestation.” To date, EAB has been found in all of the counties in the southern half of the state, and seven northern counties. Currently, all but two Wisconsin counties are either under quarantine or adjacent to a quarantined county in the state or a neighboring state. Quarantines require businesses handling ash wood, untreated ash products and hardwood firewood to sign agreements specifying how they will reduce the risk of moving EAB into non-quarantined areas, and prohibit moving firewood from quarantined areas to non-quarantined areas. With the entire state under quarantine, wood can move freely between counties within Wisconsin. Businesses that move regulated items out of state will need to work with USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to confirm interstate requirements. These are items such as ash wood with bark still on it, larger ash chips, and any kind of hardwood firewood. Firewood restrictions will remain on state and federal lands. Kuhn recommended that campers and other tourists buy wood near the campgrounds or cabins where they intend to burn it, or that they buy firewood that bears the DATCP-certified mark, meaning it has been seasoned or heat-treated to kill pests. “We don’t want to speed the spread of EAB or any other pests and diseases through the movement of firewood,” explained Kuhn. “Firewood can carry pests and diseases such as oak wilt to new areas – or even new pests and diseases that we’re not even aware of yet.”
