The emerald ash borer is an invasive species that has burrowed into and killed trees across the state. That's why the Michigan Department of Agriculture has imposed restrictions with stiff penalties for moving firewood, hoping to halt the spread. But one of our viewers saw one of the collection sites and heard a ton of rumors that didn't make much sense about where the wood went after it was dropped off. The answers I found for him are the subject of this Fact Finder.
Jennifer Holton is a public information officer with the Michigan Department of Agriculture. It's her agency that has taken the lead of dealing with the state's emerald ash borer invasion. Holton explains "obviously we have been working on the emerald ash borer situation since it was first discovered here in 2002." The borer is a little bug that in numbers can do big damage to ash trees. It's an invasion that has drawn a statewide response from the M.D.A. According to Holton, "I think we take it very seriously. Obviously our ash resources are very important to homeowners as well as folks that enjoy our outdoors, state parks and local parks."
The Michigan Department of Agriculture is responsible for the state's ash borer response. One of their biggest efforts has been to keep the general public from moving the ash borer from where it is in the Lower Peninsula to where it isn't yet by restricting the movement of firewood that may contain the little bug. That's why, at the Welcome Center in Mackinaw City, the MDA has placed two large black trailers. Holton explains "those are actually portable containers that the Michigan Department of Agriculture has provided to allow travelers through Michigan who may have their hardwood firewood and not realized they actually just can't take it across the bridge. That is a violation of our internal quarantine. So that gives them an opportunity to properly dispose of the wood before they cross the bridge making themselves susceptible to violating the law."
One of our viewers saw the firewood drop off containers, but they left him with some questions. In his email that he sent to me he wondered two things. First, why collect the possibly contaminated wood within the Mackinaw City limits? And second, are the rumors true that the wood (which we are not supposed to drive across the bridge) is actually hauled across by the MDA to be destroyed in a plant in Sault Sainte Marie? He wrote in his letter "the public has a right to know" and he's right.
So lets start with question one: Why have collection sites here? Jennifer Holton explained "Mackinaw City sits on the borders of Emmet County and Cheboygan County, both of these counties had emerald ash borer confirmed in them since 2004 and are part of the internal quarantine. So that means the wood is being collected in a county where emerald ash borer already exists."
And so technically, if contaminated wood is dropped off, according to the MDA, it is bringing something that is already in the surrounding area.
Question two: the rumor that the MDA has a contract with a plant across the Bridge in Sault Sainte Marie to destroy the wood which would seem to be a contradiction because that's outside the quarantined Lower Peninsula. Holton says "actually that is not true. None of the wood collected in Mackinaw City is transported north across the Mackinac Bridge into the Upper Peninsula."
So what does happen to the wood that is dropped off at the Mackinaw City Welcome Center? According to Holton "Our staff checks these dumpsters on a regular basis. All that firewood is removed from these containers, taken to Fort Michilimackinac State Park which in Mackinaw City and it's burned."
The state park is literally across the street. So the MDA says the wood doesn't have to travel far. Once there, it's destroyed (burnt) to make sure it doesn't go any further, "that firewood is burned as part of state park display fires. It's not available for use by the general public."
