The Berkshire Eagle has a small story on our "That's What Tree Said" campaign in Western Massachusetts- and it is great!

Here's my favorite part, "people taking firewood from one location to another, say for a camping trip, is leading to the destruction of trees, since moving firewood can help foreign pests spread."

Perfect synopsis of the issue. Well done.

Cool Green Science, a blog on The Nature Conservancy's website (Nature.org), features a great story on the Asian longhorned beetle this week.

Here's my favorite part, of course;

"Also, as you head off to hike, camp and swim this summer, leave your firewood at home."

The Portland Press Herald recently reported on the firewood ban in Maine, enacted April 1st- specifically, how it lacks enforcement and isn't yet totally hashed out.

Just a few hundred miles away from Bismarck, North Dakota, a Green Menace is wreaking havoc with city trees—destroying tree-lined streets and causing property damage.

That menace is the emerald ash borer. And it made its way into St. Paul, Minnesota in early spring of 2009. Though it hasn’t been detected in nearby North Dakota, the city of Bismarck is bracing for the worst—just in case the invader makes a jump across the border.

One more big reason to buy firewood locally: Thousand cankers disease – a fungus spread by the walnut twig beetle.

So far this disease—of the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ variety—has only been found in black walnut trees in the western part of the US.

It turns out that the Asian longhorned beetle has been useful for one thing recently. And it’s not what you might expect—a drug bust.

In an unexpected twist of fate, Canadian border patrol agents on alert for invasive pests wound up nabbing drug smugglers for 1.7 tons of hashish. The drugs were hidden—convincingly— in a 19 crate shipment of masks and statues from South Africa.

But the would-be drug smugglers’ plans were foiled by the wood used in the crates. Authorities flagged the wood to check for any pests attempting to hitch a ride into the country.

As the Emerald Ash Borer and Asian longhorned beetles threaten to creep their way closer to Maine, legislatures are moving towards prevention before it’s too late.

Maine Representative Jeff McCabe introduced a bill last week to restrict the transport of firewood in the state, citing the movement of firewood as “one of the most frequent ways for insects to be moved to new locations.”

Among other things, he notes the pests’ threat to maple trees in his home county – Somerset, Maine—the number one producer of maple syrup in the United States.

The Californians are really paying attention to the gold spotted oak borer this January, and I wanted to salute the Ventura County University of California Cooperative Extension blog for a nice, short article on GSOB.

My favorite part, naturally, reads as follows;

" At this time, all we can do is work together to slow the spread of the GSOB with the following steps:

There are two things currently threatening California's oaks- Phytophthora ramorum, also known as Sudden Oak Death, and the Gold spotted oak borer.

Both of these are non-native pests that kill oaks. One is found mostly in wet areas of Northern CA, and the other in certain very dry parts of Southern CA.

What else do they have in common? They both can be spread on firewood.

Today is a showing of the new documentary, Lurking in the Trees, about the experience that Worcester MA has had with Asian longhorned beetles. It is being shown at the Massachusetts statehouse in Boston, MA, to state legislators, officials, press, and agency personnel.