The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is the first Northland area to ban all incoming firewood to prevent the invasion of emerald ash borers and other insects.
The National Park Service this week announced the ban, effective immediately, on the transportation of all firewood in the Apostle Islands and the movement of firewood from island to island within the park.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources already has a ban on out-of-state firewood brought to state forests and parks, but the Apostle Islands ban prevents evenWisconsin-cut wood from entering the park.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources so far is asking only that campers not bring in firewood to parks and forests, but it is considering tougher regulations, as is the U.S. Forest Service in Minnesota.
Park Service officials say the strict measures are needed to try to keep invading insects from running roughshod over the island's forests.
Since the discovery of emerald ash borers in 2002, the Asian pests have killed an estimated 15 million ash trees in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. The insect already has taken hold in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan -- about 200 miles from the park.
Another invading pest, the gypsy moth, already has infiltrated Northwestern Wisconsin in and around the park. Experts say it was probably tourists from south and east of Wisconsin who brought the moths into the Northland.
"It's pretty clear how the gypsy moth got here so quickly, because the female is incapable of flying that far. People brought them to the park," said Jim Nepstad, Apostle Islands chief of planning and resource management.
Unlike gypsy moths, which defoliate trees, emerald ash borers kill the trees. Experts say the insects are expected to devastate the Northland's ash forests within a decade.
But because ash borers don't move well or far on their own, experts also hope remote places like the Apostle Islands may act as reserves of native ash forests even if mainland ash trees are decimated.
"We're hoping it's not as inevitable with the emerald ash borer here as it was with gypsy moths," Nepstad said. "The ash borer can't fly far, either, so maybe our islands will have the surviving pockets of native ash for our area -- if we can keep people from bringing them in."
Campers still can have campfires on the Apostle Islands, but they'll have to use dead and downed wood they find on the island they are camping.
Jim Hummel, chief ranger for Voyageurs National Park, said Voyageurs officials are monitoring the problem, but so far have not instituted a ban.
"We've talked about it, but so far we're in the monitoring stage," Hummel said. "We think most of our wood is from the campsite, but there surely is some coming in."
Hummel said the park has tried encouraging local entrepreneurs to cut and sell local, park-inspected wood at entry points, houseboat companies and resorts to offer a pest-free alternative to cutting wood within the park.
Barb Soderberg, public service team leader for the Superior National Forest, said her agency is meeting with Minnesota state officials to form a single plan so campers can have one firewood rule no matter where they camp in the state.
The Apostle Islands joins Isle Royale National Park with the most stringent firewood rules in the region. Isle Royale has banned nonnative species of all types from entering.
"Most of our visitors understand what importing nonnative species could mean. We get very good cooperation," said Phyllis Green, park superintendent. "People need to know that they can help slow these things down and keep them out of some areas and buy some time until science can figure out a way to stop them."
Meanwhile, state and federal agencies are in the midst of spraying to kill or stop the mating of gypsy moths in Northwestern Wisconsin and along Minnesota's North Shore, where it's suspected tourists unknowingly spread the insects. It's hoped those populations can be eliminated before the moths take hold permanently.Duluth News Tribune
