Lockport Union-Sun & Journal — After several years of education, outreach and enforcement, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Firewood Regulation has announced that the 2009 regulations have been revised to help ease regulatory compliance and enforcement.
The basics and purpose of the revised regulation remain the same and still prohibit untreated firewood from entering the state and restrict intra-state movement of untreated firewood to no more than 50 miles from its source.
“Without the existence of this regulation, firewood infested with invasive insects such as emerald ash borer and Asian longhorned beetle could be transported throughout the state spreading infestations from one place to another,” said Commissioner Joe Martens. “To help reduce damages to New York’s forests and community trees, New Yorkers and visitors are urged to comply with the state’s regulations, which restrict the major vector for the introduction of these pests.”
The revised regulation focuses enforcement on untreated firewood that is in transit, and any firewood possessed on state lands. The revisions also articulate DEC’s authority to confiscate and destroy non-compliant firewood under the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL 9-1303).
The updated definition of “firewood,” now specifically excludes logs being moved to manufacturing facilities for processing (sawmills, pulp and paper mills, biomass power plants, etc.) from regulation as “firewood,” as this regulation is intended to regulate firewood specifically. Other regulations exist for log transport, which are enforced by New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, including transport restrictions from the twenty counties in New York that are under state and federal Emerald Ash Borer quarantines.
For information on the restrictions on transporting firewood, visit the DEC website at http://tinyurl.com/754nyek.
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