People planning a trip to the Chequamegon-Nicolet are being reminded that there is still a firewood ban in effect. Out-of-state firewood is prohibited in the
Forest, and visitors are asked to use firewood available locally.

For the past several years, an insect known as the emerald ash borer, or EAB, has been making a slow and deadly migration throughout the Midwest. Millions of ash trees have been destroyed in areas as close as Michigan, and, most recently, the EAB is showing up in suburbs around the Chicago area.

Since many visitors to campgrounds on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest come from outside the area and many of them bring their own camp firewood, precautions have been taken by enforcing the ban on transported firewood.

With more than 1,100 campsites located in 54 campgrounds throughout the 1.5 million acre
National Forest in northern Wisconsin, the danger of importing the insect is real, since it has been determined that firewood is the preferred vehicle of the EAB.

Unable to travel more than two miles on its own, the EAB needs to hitch a ride to get around. Most experts believe it has made its way through the Midwest by people who transport infested firewood to other parts of the state or country. EAB has no natural predators; it’s virtually indestructible.

This year, campers on the Forest may also notice some large box-kite-looking purple traps hanging high from trees. These have been installed to trap the EAB in the event they have made their way into Wisconsin. The outer walls of the trap are smeared with glue. A bag of
pungent manuka oil that broadcasts the scent of a distressed tree hangs inside. The traps will remain in place until late summer, when they will be removed and checked for the insect.

“It’s important to note that these traps will not bring EAB to a non-infested site. They will simply let us know if the beetle is already there,” said Mark Theisen, forest silviculturist.

The Forest Service is asking for the public’s cooperation ensuring that these traps are left alone to “do their thing.”

“We realize that these traps may be an eye-sore to campers and a source of entertainment to others, but in order for them to work, they must be left alone,” Theisen said.

In addition to the traps, a small band of bark on small ash trees will be stripped in a process known as “girdling.” This stresses and/or kills the tree attracting EAB is present on the site. In some cases, a sticky mesh
is applied to the bole of the tree to which EAB is trapped. When this sticky mesh is not used the tree is cut down after one or two summers and the rest of the bark is peeled to determine if EAB entered that tree.

The Forest is working cooperatively with the U.S. Forest Services state and private section; Michigan Tech University; Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection; the Wisconsin DNR; and the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service.

For more information on Emerald Ash Borer and other forest pests, visit http://ncrs.fs.fed.us/4501/eab/. For more on Wisconsin’s National Forest, go to
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/cnnf/, and on Wisconsin’s state forests and parks, http://dnr.wi.gov/.