STOP! DON’T MOVE THAT FIREWOOD!
Firewood may carry harmful pests and it is best to buy, store and/or sell locally.
Save our trees, don’t move firewood!
Here in Ojai, we live in a remnant oak forest* and our oak trees sometimes need to be pruned or removed for safety reasons. A common dilemma is what to do with the large pieces of wood that are left after pruning. Oak is excellent firewood and there is high demand for good firewood. But oaks also are being attacked by some pretty nasty pests which can kill them. Sycamore trees also may harbor some of these pests. Obviously if you burn the wood the pests will perish. But what about in the meantime?
The most common and threatening pests in oaks and sycamores are goldspotted oak borer (GSOB) in oaks, and invasive shot hole borer (ISHB) in both oaks and sycamores. Both of these pests are relatively slow moving through the environment on their own. However, if firewood is moved the pests can be moved with it.
There is abundant evidence that both of these pests have been moved at a much more rapid rate in California due to the movement of firewood. According to the University of California, transporting infested firewood “is likely the most significant pathway for introducing GSOB into non-infested areas.” So, here are some basic precautions that should be taken to reduce their rate of spread:
Do not remove firewood from your premises.
Do not take firewood with you when heading out to go camping.
Do not bring firewood home gathered or purchased while camping.
Do not offer firewood to others, unless in your immediate vicinity.
Do not leave your firewood on the curb for others to take.
Do not sell your firewood.
Ask the pruning contractor if they can shred the wood if you don’t want or need it.
All of these precautions are geared toward reducing the spread of non-native invasive insect species that can kill our trees. ISHB has been in Ojai for quite some time (at least 6 years) but it can still be moved around to areas not yet affected by transporting firewood. GSOB is not yet in Ojai, but it has killed millions of trees south of here and has been moving our way. It could conceivably kill most of our coast live oaks (the most common oak in the Ojai Valley) in a short time, as it has in areas to our south.
So please be careful with your firewood!
The above blog post was written by: Jan Scow, Registered Consulting Arborist
Definition of Remnant forest or area according to Wikipedia: A remnant natural area, also known as remnant habitat, is an ecological community containing native flora and fauna that has not been significantly disturbed by destructive activities such as agriculture, logging, pollution, development, fire suppression, or non-native species invasion.[1]The more disturbed an area has been, the less characteristic it becomes of remnant habitat. Remnant areas are also described as "biologically intact" or "ecologically intact."