With the approach of Pennsylvania's main deer hunting season and its influx of thousands of out-of-state hunters, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Bureau of Forestry is combating the spread of forest insect pests by asking hunters to refrain from transporting firewood into the Commonwealth.

The spread of emerald ash borer and other threatening insects has been linked to the transportation of infested firewood and nursery stock. Usually visible from May to August, the adult emerald ash borer beetles are slightly less than one inch long, thin and bright metallic green in color.

The beetle, which feeds in the tissues under the bark of ash trees, has claimed some 7 million trees in Michigan alone.

If infected firewood was transported into Pennsylvania, the emerald ash borer could emerge next spring and begin feeding on ash trees. It prefers green ash but will target all ash trees, regardless of whether they are healthy or stressed. First identified in North America in 2002, the emerald ash borer causes the girdling and death of branches and entire trees.

DCNR's Bureau of Forestry participates in a multi-agency task force assembled to detect and control this invasive threat to Pennsylvania ash trees. Other cooperating members of the task force include the state Department of Agriculture, Penn State Cooperative Extension, the USDA Plant Protection and Quarantine and the USDA Forest Service.

Since 2003, the DCNR has been surveying for the early detection of emerald ash borer on state-owned forestlands. That same year, 18 surveillance sites were established in Erie County. Surveillance efforts were expanded in 2004 to 20 sites in 13 counties: Beaver, Bradford, Bucks, Butler, Crawford, Erie, Fayette, Greene, Mercer, Somerset, Tioga, Venango and Washington.

The state Department of Agriculture and USDA Plant Protection and Quarantine also are conducting surveys in nurseries and urban areas. No emerald ash borer beetles have been detected in Pennsylvania.

Signs of emerald ash borer infestation include upper crown dieback, woodpecker damage, "S"-shaped galleries under the bark and "D"-shaped emergence holes. To report possible infested trees in Pennsylvania, contact DCNR's Division of Forest Pest Management at (717) 948-3941, or BadBug@state.pa.us ; or the Department of Agriculture at (717) 772-5228.

11/8/2004