FOX 22 reports on Daigle’s study about firewood transportation, dangers of invasive forest pests
FOX 22 interviewed John Daigle about his study that found education, confiscation of illegally transported firewood, warnings and fines are needed to alert campers about the dangers of invasive forest pests and keep them from transporting firewood across state lines. The University of Maine professor of forest recreation management said the tactics are needed because 20–25 percent of campers surveyed from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont said they still bring firewood from home when they camp. Emerald ash borer infestations are in Maine and in areas near the northern and southern borders, so management efforts are critical to decrease the rate of EAB spread into other locations of Maine, said Daigle. The emerald ash borer burrows into the bark of ash trees and kills them within three to five years. “Once it starts eating kind of the phloem area and creating these galleries, water nutrients can’t get up,” he said.