Iowa officials say 25 counties, including some in our area, are now under a firewood and ash products quarantine because of the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey issued the quarantine order Friday, November 1, 2013.
The counties included in the quarantine are: Winneshiek, Allamakee, Fayette, Clayton, Buchanan, Delaware, Dubuque, Linn, Jones, Jackson, Clinton, Johnson, Cedar, Scott, Keokuk, Washington, Muscatine, Louisa, Wapello, Jefferson, Henry, Des Moines, Davis, Van Buren, and Lee.
The quarantine means no movement out of the listed counties for any “regulated article,” which includes EAB in any stage of development, ash trees, firewood of any hardwood species, any cut or fallen material from an ash tree, any non-heat treated ash lumber with bark or sapwood attached and hardwood wood or bark chips larger than one inch in any dimension.
None of those items may be moved out of any quarantined county unless a permit is issued by the Iowa Department of Agriculture or the USDA.
All Iowans, even those in a county not included in the quarantine, are strongly cautioned to avoid moving firewood across county or state lines.
“Most EAB infestations in the United States have been started by people unknowingly moving infested firewood, nursery plants or sawmill logs,” said a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Agriculture. “EAB kills all ash species and is considered to be one of the most destructive tree pests ever seen in North America.”
EAB has been confirmed in four counties in Iowa: Allamakee County in May 2010, Des Moines County in July 2013, Jefferson County in August 2013 and in Cedar County in October 2013.
Illinois had 41 counties under quarantine and expected to add Rock Island, Whiteside and Jo Daviess counties to that list in October.
An Illinois Department of Agriculture employee discovered larva in Rock Island County that was confirmed September 27 to be EAB. EAB was found in Jo Daviess and Whiteside counties earlier in the summer. The Whiteside County discovery came less than a week after EAB was found in Burlington.
