If you plan on stacking up some firewood for camping and the backyard fire pit, or simply stocking up before the winter, don’t plan on buying any non-local logs.

You can blame the Asian Longhorned Beetle and the Emerald Ash Borer for a ban on out-of-state firewood and a prohibition on the transport of wood from the neighboring states of Massachusetts and Connecticut across borders.

Both of Rhode Island’s neighboring states have found populations of both of the invasive insects, which can decimate tree species and might hitch a ride in a cord of firewood.

So far, state officials have not found any of the insects here in the Ocean State, but there is concern that they could end up here even without preventative measures.

Still, the state Department of Environmental Management hopes residents will take steps to ensure any wood they buy comes from locally-sourced trees.

The quarantines in Massachusetts and Connecticut were instituted by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service along with agencies within both states.

What does this mean to Rhode Island firewood dealers and homeowners? If you sell or distribute firewood, you will not be able to obtain firewood from Massachusetts or Connecticut to sell or distribute into Rhode Island. If you are a homeowner, you cannot purchase or move any firewood from Massachusetts or Connecticut for any purpose into Rhode Island. Even if you own property in Rhode Island as well as in Massachusetts or Connecticut, you cannot move firewood in Rhode Island.

Here’s what is quarantined and cannot be moved outside the quarantine area:

    Firewood of all hardwood (non-conifer) species (firewood is wood smaller than 48 inches).

    All ash nursery stock.

    All ash lumber that has not been treated. (Proper ash wood treatments include removal of bark and 1/2 inch of wood, dry kiln sterilization, fumigation and heat treatments.)

    All ash green lumber and other ash material living, dead, cut or fallen, including logs, stumps, roots, branches and composted chips 1/2 inch or more in diameter.

No ash, living or dead, can be moved out of quarantine areas, unless it has been properly treated. Firewood is wood that is cut into pieces smaller than 4 feet.

As a result of the ALB infestation in Worcester and the quarantine affecting several counties in Massachusetts, there are also movement restrictions pertaining to hardwood tree species including the movement of firewood, which prohibits movement of all ALB host species, regardless of log size, from movement out of the quarantine area in Massachusetts.

As campers and other vacationers prepare for their upcoming getaways, DEM is urging them to refrain from transporting firewood to and from other areas, and to use only local firewood at their campsites and summer cottages.

Rhode Islanders should also be aware that they can spread local infestations of spongy moth and Hemlock Wholly Adelgid hidden in their own firewood, and therefore should not transport it elsewhere. When potentially infested firewood is moved, any pests that emerge can seriously threaten the trees in the new community. You cannot tell just by looking whether or not a log is infested. Insects and diseases can be in or underneath the bark of infested logs, as well as on it.

For questions regarding the movement of firewood and/or logs or the quarantine protocol, please contact either Liz Duguay, DEM/Agriculture at 222-2718 ext. 4510 or Paul Ricard, DEM/ Forest Environment at 568-2248 ext.17.