Memorial Day Campers Be Warned: Destructive Insects at Large

Environmental agencies are advising Connecticut campers this Memorial Day weekend to buy and burn local firewood to help “reduce the economic and environmental damages” of harmful wood boring insects.

“It is crucial we stop the unintentional human transport of EAB (emerald ash borer, one of those destructive insects) … and the most effective way to do this is by not moving firewood,” Daniel Etsy, commissioner of the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said in a statement.

“Our goal is to reduce the economic and environmental damages this pest can cause and we need everyone’s cooperation to accomplish it,” he added.

Do not transport firewood into or out of Connecticut, burn all your firewood at your campsite and never bring it home, the DEEP, along with the Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station, is advising.

There are nine Connecticut towns within New Haven County where EAB has already been detected, according to the statement. The emerald ash borer is an invasive species with no known eradication solution that targets and kills Ash trees, the DEEP says.

Ash trees, which in some parts of Connecticut make up 19 percent of a forest, are a source of economic revenue for the forest products industry as well as a favorite firewood of homeowners, the department says.

For more information on regulations on movement of firewood, see here.