Press Release

John Dodd	(301) 734-5175
Jim Rogers	(202) 690-4755

USDA CONTINUES TO RESTRICT MOVEMENT OF FIREWOOD IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2004-It's summer and time for picnics, cookouts and going camping. But, before heading to the great outdoors, the U.S. Department of Agriculture would like to remind people of the dangers of moving firewood from regulated areas in New York. Moving firewood out of a quarantine area can have a devastating impact on our nation's trees as it could lead to an infestation by the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB).

"Even though the Asian longhorned beetle doesn't fly great distances, it can get around by hitching a ride in infested wood," said Christine Markham, national ALB program director with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

ALB, native to China, Japan and Korea, is a voracious pest of our nation's deciduous hardwood forests and urban landscape. It deposits its eggs into healthy hardwood trees. After hatching, the developing ALB bores into healthy hardwood trees and feeds on living tree tissue during the larval stage. Later, throughout the summer, adult beetles emerge from exit holes and briefly feed on the small twigs and leaves of host trees.

ALB attacks many different hardwood trees including: all species of maple, birch, horsechestnut, poplar, willow, elm, ash, mimosa (silk tree), hackberry, London plane, sycamore and mountain ash.

Residents are asked not to move USDA regulated articles out of the quarantine areas as movement of these articles can unintentionally increase the spread of an infestation. Articles include firewood (all hardwood species), green lumber and other wood materials living, dead, cut or fallen, including nursery stock, logs, stumps, roots, branches and debris of half an inch or more in diameter of many common urban and forest trees. Transporting wood from established quarantined areas can be both a federal and state offense. Violations can be punished with federal fines of up to $250,000.

In New York City, regulated areas for ALB include: all areas south of 125th Street in Manhattan to include Roosevelt, Wards and Randalls Islands; in Queens south of Little Neck Bay, north of the Jackie Robinson Parkway/Grand Central Parkway, west from the Queens/Nassau line to the East River; and in Brooklyn, south of the Queens line, north of Linden Blvd. (Route 27)/Liberty Ave., west of 112th Street to the East River.

On Long Island, the Amityville quarantine includes the area south of the Southern State Parkway, east of Broadway, in Massapequa, west of Wellwood Ave., in Lindenhurst, south of East John St., west of Route 109, in Babylon, and north of the Great South Bay. The Islip quarantine includes the area east of Brentwood Rd., in Bayshore, north of Montauk Highway, west of Heckscher Parkway, west of Carleton Ave., in Central Islip, south of Pear St., east of Broadway, in Brentwood, and south of the Southern State Parkway.
To fight this destructive pest and prevent it from spreading, agriculture officials have removed and destroyed more than 7,100 trees in New York. The goal is to eradicate this highly destructive insect from New York.

Residents are reminded to find out if they live in an area regulated for ALB before moving firewood by calling 1-877-STOP-ALB or 1-866-265-0301.

The public can also help by looking for the Asian longhorned beetle, which is about 1 to 1.5 inches long, has a shiny jet black body with distinctive white spots and long antennae that are banded with black and white. To report a sighting of this destructive pest, please call the phone numbers listed above.

APHIS, USDA Forest Service, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, New York Department of Environmental Conservation and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation participate in the Asian Longhorned Beetle Cooperative Eradication Program.

For more information, visit the APHIS Web site at www.aphis.usda.gov, click on Asian longhorned beetle under "Hot Issues."

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