Public transport of firewood across the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan, United States of America: origin, destination, woody taxa, and reasons for transporting firewood

Abstract

Transporting firewood can spread plant pests such as the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), which was discovered in Lower Michigan, United States of America in 2002. In 2005, Michigan banned the transport of hardwood firewood northwards across the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Lower and Upper Michigan. In 2005–2011, 479 drivers of 11 commercial vehicles and 468 private vehicles were interviewed. Firewood was collected in every month of the year, with most firewood collected in June–September. Of the 468 private vehicles surveyed, 400 carried firewood originating from Michigan, 64 carried it from 19 other American states, and four carried it from three Canadian provinces. Most vehicles (93%) were bound for Upper Michigan, 4% were bound for eight other American states, and 3% were bound for four Canadian provinces. Drivers transported 1–275 pieces of firewood, with 33% of drivers having 1–10 pieces and 87% having up to 50 pieces. Surrendered firewood represented 19 tree genera – 18 hardwood genera and one conifer. Of 59 vehicles carrying ash (Fraxinus) firewood, 15 had firewood with A. planipennis signs. Firewood was transported mainly for camping (76%), for weight (15%), and to be used at cottages (5%).

Spread management priorities to limit emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) impacts on United States street trees

“…Quarantine activities involve administrative tactics such as "issuing permits, certificates, and compliance agreements; making site visits; and conducting investigations of suspected violations" (APHIS, 2018). While quarantines are widely used to slow the expansion of pest populations, their efficacy is a matter of debate as they require a high degree of compliance from all economic agents in the quarantine area and a significant enforcement effort, which has been argued to be unrealistic (Diss-Torrance et al, 2018;Haack & Petrice, 2021). Other local-scale EAB management measures exist, such as cutting infested trees or applying treatments to individual trees (Hudgins et al, 2022), but we assumed that these did not translate into a reduced landscape-scale spread of EAB and therefore did not consider them in this analysis.…”

Optimal emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) control across the United States

“…Quarantine activities involve administrative tactics such as "issuing permits, certificates, and compliance agreements; making site visits; and conducting investigations of suspected violations" (APHIS, 2018). While quarantines are widely used to slow the expansion of pest populations, their efficacy is a matter of debate as it requires high degree of compliance from all economic agents in the quarantine area and significant enforcement effort, which has been argued to be unrealistic (Haack & Petrice, 2021;Diss-Torrance et al, 2018). Other local scale EAB management measures exist, such as cutting infested trees or applying treatments to individual trees , but we assumed that these did not translate into reduced landscape-scale spread of EAB and therefore did not consider them in this analysis.…”

Optimal emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) control across the United States

“…While quarantines are widely used to slow the expansion of pest populations, their efficacy is a matter of debate as it requires high degree of compliance from all economic agents in the quarantine area and significant enforcement effort, which has been argued to be unrealistic [36][37].…”