Virginia Firewood?

[springer02]

I just made our first reservation of the year (YAHOO!) on reserveamerica.com and noticed towards the end of the process, a message came up saying, "Leave Your Firewood at Home!"  This was in red, to get my attention, I guess.  

Does anyone know if this is a suggestion or a new law/rule? Does it apply to everyone or just people coming in from out of the area/state?

We usually get a load of firewood from a local guy and use it for camping for the year.  Guess I need to figure this out before I order our wood!

Thanks in advance!  

Tena  

--It's been a long winter and I'm very ready to camp again!:)

[flyfisherman]

Don't know about Virginia ...

But the Dept of Agriculture has a ban on bringing firewood from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and New York to the Smoky Mtns Nat'l Park. They say in bringing firewood that might have bugs in them very well may spread the range of the destructive things. I should think it would'nt be so bad about the burning but rather what firewood is left behind. I know N.C. (and surrounding states) have been dealing with the pine beetle now for some time.




Fly

[sacrawf]

http://www.dof.virginia.gov/health/resources/pub-Eng-Dont-Move-Firewood.pdf

[campfireguy]

hello...even in wisconsin we have this issue. culprit is the ash borer. our state parks warn against this and most private and now public/corprate campgrounds. they give the 50 mile rule. haveing this discusion with a few people, we all have been making sure our fire wood is local. generally we also use that guy right by the campground.

[SherryandFamily]

I could not open the link but I live in Virginia and camp in Virginia and we called to check on this.
It is at this time a suggestion.
The firewood they sell at the campground is green.
If there is a local guy like someone mentioned that is probably your best bet.
Sherry

['tiredTeacher]

http://www.dof.virginia.gov/health/resources/pub-Eng-Dont-Move-Firewood.pdf

The link worked for me.
It is, at this time, a STRONG suggestion.

On a related note. You'd think that to encourage campers to be compliant, the parks and forest folks would provide firewood, or at least sell at a reasonable price. For instance, I camped at Merchants Millpond SP in N.C. last fall. They had cords of wood stacked under cover. It was an honor-system setup at 50 cents a piece. The pieces were quarter logs of 12- to 18-inch diameter hardwood. I had to split them again to get them down to starter size. Two-and-a-half U.S. dollars purchased two nights of campfire. I call that reasonable.

[McCampers]

Don't take anything organic very far.  You never know what you're carrying in it.  Firewood is available at most every campground and grocery store.  Check for fire bans in some areas as well.  We found out about the fire ban the hardway when we got in trouble for a small contained campfire last summer.

[dthurk]

Do we really think we will stop the advance or spread of an insect infestation?  In order to even have a chance, a ban on transportation of wood would have to be complete from all sources, not just campers.   And compliance would have to be 100 percent.  Is that really going to happen?  Then, all that'll do is slow the advance of the infestation.  If an area is capable of supporting a particular insect with proper climate and food source, you will eventually find that insect living there and there's little we can do to stop it.  

Sorry to be so pessimistic, but do we really think we're going to make a significant impact in the spread of insects?

[McCampers]

Dude, think love for the envioronment, and like Al Gore and stuff like that.  DOn't harsh our mellows dude.  I mean, like you don't want to support the inconvenient truth, dude.  We're all responsible for the carbon, man.  Like totally responsible for the warming, and the bugs and stuff.  And like remember hope, man.  Just embrace change and hope, man it's like the future, dude..........

[Smores]

**HUGS A TREE** (checking it for bugs first of course)

[sacrawf]

Sorry to be so pessimistic, but do we really think we're going to make a significant impact in the spread of insects?

Most invasive acquatic species have been transported by recreational or commercial watercraft, and we really can have an impact on transporting wood-borne insects.  Lumber, which has been kiln dried, and/or treated, won't have live infestations.  The firewood from our back yards or local firewood purveyor (I used to be one), is ususally wood that has been cut and open-air dried for at least a season.  As such, it has a high likelihood of transporting the live insect populations.  Even if we can't prevent the eventual population spread, delaying the spread gives time for effective chemical insect controls to be developed and for native species to develop defenses.  This is also true for plant diseases as well as for the insects and invasive water plants and animals, with the example of Soybean Rust in the United States. http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/unitedstates/il.shtml

[McCampers]

Sacrawf must be from the University of Central Illinois.  Nice disertation on the damage done by humans to the environment.  Now tell about the damage done to Yellowstone by the 40 years of strict non burn conservation that lead up to the fire in 1988.  

I agree with most of what you said, but I also know that we don't know everything we think we do about nature.  Individually we only occupy it for a few years, and we keep biased records about what we observe.  "Man always has an agenda, most men don't know what it is though"  I support your statement whole heartedly "Dont carry organics very far"

[sacrawf]

Sacrawf must be from the University of Central Illinois.  Nice disertation on the damage done by humans to the environment.  Now tell about the damage done to Yellowstone by the 40 years of strict non burn conservation that lead up to the fire in 1988.  

I agree with most of what you said, but I also know that we don't know everything we think we do about nature.  Individually we only occupy it for a few years, and we keep biased records about what we observe.  "Man always has an agenda, most men don't know what it is though"  I support your statement whole heartedly "Dont carry organics very far"

Thanks for the observation...I was an agriculture teacher and farmer in former careers and a U of I grad. However, don't mistake me for an environmental whacko. The earth will change without regard to human activity. But, just as we shouldn't litter our garbage beside our campsites and hiking trails, likewise we shouldn't litter our woodlands and lakes with weeds, animals, and plant diseases that don't belong.

[dthurk]

Most invasive acquatic species have been transported by recreational or commercial watercraft, and we really can have an impact on transporting wood-borne insects.  Lumber, which has been kiln dried, and/or treated, won't have live infestations.  The firewood from our back yards or local firewood purveyor (I used to be one), is ususally wood that has been cut and open-air dried for at least a season.  As such, it has a high likelihood of transporting the live insect populations.  Even if we can't prevent the eventual population spread, delaying the spread gives time for effective chemical insect controls to be developed and for native species to develop defenses.  This is also true for plant diseases as well as for the insects and invasive water plants and animals, with the example of Soybean Rust in the United States. http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/unitedstates/il.shtml

Interesting.  Even so, I haven't seen yet where human intervention has had a significant long term impact on the insect world.  Have we ever caused the extiction of an insect species?  Those little guys are just overwhelming.  Chemical insect controls will work on a short term limited area basis while having other impacts that would probably be negative.  IMHO, the only thing I see in your post that might have a chance of working would be "native species to develop defenses".   Would slowing down the spread help that along?  Not sure.  How can a native species develop defenses to a threat that doesn't exist?  The insects would have to be present in order for some kind of mutation to take place.
 
 At any rate, our personal practice is to carry firewood on our shorter local trips.  We don't usually take it on more distant trips.  We carry our small bit in containers and burn it all on site before returning home.  On longer trips we usually buy wood there or do without a campfire.  Our longer trips are in the summer, somehow I question lighting a fire when we're sweating in 85 degree heat.

Leaving for Shenandoah National Park tomorrow night!

[McCampers]

Oh I almost forgot we were talking about campfires.  I personally like a couple truck tires some gasoline diesel mixture with a VW engine block added once it gets to burning good.  How's that for Eco-friendly? :yikes: