USDA Revises Heat Treatment Schedule for Emerald Ash Borer

USDA News Release

Contact:
Sharon Lucik (810) 844-2713
Andrea McNally (301) 734-5175

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2011 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today announced a revision to the heat treatment schedule for ash logs and all hardwood firewood moving interstate from an emerald ash borer (EAB) quarantined area.

APHIS policy is to revise regulatory treatments to make them less stringent when scientific evidence supports the action. Therefore, effective immediately the revised heat treatment schedule requires ash logs and firewood to be heat treated to a minimum core temperature of 60.0 degrees Centigrade (140 F) for 60 minutes. Previously the heat treatment schedule was 71.1 C for 75 minutes.

When an APHIS certified heat treatment facility is located in an EAB quarantined area and other quarantine pests are present which also require treatment, the more stringent heat treatment schedule should be used for ash logs and hardwood firewood moving interstate from the facility.

The new treatment schedule prevents the introduction or dissemination of EAB within the United States and provides flexibility to industry. APHIS will work with state and local agencies, as well as industry and other private entities, to implement the new treatment schedules.

EAB, a wood boring beetle native to China and eastern Asia, is responsible for the death and decline of tens of millions of ash trees throughout the United States. The pest was first detected in July 2002 in southeastern Michigan. Today 14 other states are known to have EAB infestations including: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Federal and state quarantines, totaling 270,000 square miles, are in place to mitigate its spread. Go to www.StopTheBeetle.info for more information.

The treatment manual is available on the Internet at (www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/manuals/index.shtml) or by contacting APHIS, Plant Protection and Quarantine, Manuals Unit, 92 Thomas Johnson Drive, Suite 200, Frederick, Md. 21702.