A federal regulation that has effectively stopped people from bringing Canadian firewood into the United States isn’t interfering with shipments of whole logs burned as firewood here.
As of Aug. 1, U.S. border patrol officials must confiscate cut firewood from Canada that hasn’t been heat-treated.
Ann Furgeson, plant health coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the nationwide rule is aimed at insects for which the U.S. has quarantines, including gypsy moths and longhorn beetles.
Regulations, however, are different for whole logs, according to Jeffrey Lisius, assistant area director for trade in Alaska for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A statement of origin is required for logs shipped from Canada into Alaska, Lisius said. “Most places in the Yukon and British Columbia are not infested with gypsy moths. (Shippers) do, however, need a statement saying where the logs originate from.”
Dorothy Clunies-Ross, office manager for Dimok Timber of Haines Junction, Y.T., said U.S. border officials at Dalton Cache have OK’d her company’s deliveries of spruce logs. Dimok logs are sold in Haines, then bucked into firewood.
“I just needed to have a certificate of origin and a declaration of no beetles, including the type that doesn’t live here,” Clunies-Ross said. The regulation, which updates a 2008 order, was adopted in May by the USDA and applies to all Canada-U.S. borders. It stipulates that softwood firewood from Canada must be heat-treated at 133 degrees F. for 30 minutes and that hardwood must be heated to 140 degrees F. for 60 minutes.
Officer Mark Blanchard of the U.S. Customs station at Dalton Cache said he couldn’t estimate how many bundles of firewood border officials have turned back since the rule went into effect, but said the number wasn’t high. “We don’t seize it. They just have to take it back to Canada.”
Jolanda Inguanzo, pest survey specialist for the USDA in Anchorage, said the regulation would have been adopted years ago, except for concerns from businesses. “Tourists like to take their firewood with them. There was a lot of opposition.”
Inguanzo cited wording from the federal order that says, “There are pests of firewood, such as Asian longhorn beetle, emerald ash borer, gypsy moth, pine shoot beetle, European spruce bark beetle, and brown spruce longhorn beetle that are either not present in the United States, or they are present, yet being officially controlled.”
The rule should have been in place years ago, she said. “A lot of beetles can travel on firewood. It’s been known for a long time that firewood is a pathway.”
Haines area forester Roy Josephson said it’s unlikely that Dimok timber would carry spruce bark beetles.
A federal factsheet issued this month said, “Canadian logs… are allowed into the United States for use at specified locations without heat treatment. Each load is shipped to a single location where it is used in a process, such as paper or wood-chip manufacturing. These processes kill any pests residing in the logs. In comparison, firewood entering the United States goes to many locations and can sit for months or years without being burned.”
The new regulation has effectively stopped campers from returning to Skagway with Canadian wood, the Skagway News recently reported.