Officials announce quartantine for firewood in Allamakee County to prevent spread of emerald ash borer

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today announced a quarantine of firewood and other wood products in Allamakee County in an attempt to stop the spread of the emerald ash borer, an insect that has destroyed ash trees across the Midwest.

State officials recently announced an emerald ash borer infestation in Allamakee County along the Mississippi River. The state's agriculture department also announced today they would move forward with rules requiring firewood sold or distributed in Iowa be identified with the country and state of origin effective Jan. 1.

Firewood has been the main source of spreading the insect and starting new infestations.

“These steps are necessary to help prevent the spread of this destructive insect while hopefully allowing businesses to continue to function,” Northey said in a statement. “This quarantine is established to make sure that any ash products that leave Allamakee County do not spread this pest.”

The articles under the quarantine include firewood of any hardwood species, any living state of the emerald ash borer, entire ash trees, any fallen or cut material of an ash tree, non-heat treated ash lumber with either bark or sapwood attached and hardwood wood or bark chips larger than one inch in two dimensions.

Those articles cannot be moved from Allamakee County without a permit from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship or the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service or unless the article has been treated to remove the insects under the supervision of those departments.

Ash trees are common in Iowa, which has an estimated 58 million trees of the species in rural areas and 30 million in urban areas.

The emerald ash borer, a beetle native to eastern Asia, kills ash trees when larvae burrow under the bark and eat the actively growing layers. The signs of infestation are small, D-shaped exit holes in ash tree bark.