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Hungry Pests Invading Wisconsin Again

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Friday, May 2, 2014   

MADISON, Wis. – As the weather warms up now that May is here, Wisconsinites are being urged to take some extra precautions when traveling around the state.

"It's a good time to be transporting pests unaware because it's when they're coming out from the winter and appearing,” says Donna Gilson, public information officer for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture. “And we're doing a lot of planting, we're doing a lot of moving around going camping and getting out into the outdoors again – maybe going up to vacation homes, cabins up north."

Gilson says there are plenty of pests around, but the two the Agriculture Department focuses on the most are the emerald ash borer and the gypsy moth.

One of the biggest concerns is firewood.

"Buy it where you burn it,” she advises. “In other words, firewood is one of the primary ways that we move pests around, especially emerald ash borer and gypsy moths.

“Don't be taking wood with you. Buy firewood wherever it is that you're going on vacation."

According to Gilson, people originally brought these pests to Wisconsin without realizing what they were doing.

She says by taking a few minutes to check camping equipment and by purchasing firewood at your destination rather than taking it with you, you'll be helping Wisconsin's lumber industry, nurseries, farmers and many other businesses.

While the Agriculture Department carefully monitors a number of other pests, including the European corn borer, soybean cyst nematodes and Japanese beetles, which are the bane of gardeners and homeowners throughout southern Wisconsin, the main worries are the emerald ash borer and the gypsy moth.

"It's getting to be a pretty general infestation of emerald ash borer in maybe the eastern two-thirds of the state,” Gilson explains. “We've got gypsy moths in most of our counties and it's still a pretty low population – so with both of these what we're trying to do is just slow them down."





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