Moving firewood risky to P.E.I. forests, city warns

Charlottetown officials are reminding residents not to move firewood because of the risk of spreading a forest insect or disease to another area.

Beth Hoar, Charlottetown's parkland conservationist, said it may seem harmless to pack up leftover wood from the winter to take to a cottage or use on a summer camping trip.

But Hoar warned that moving firewood from one end of the province to another, or across provincial or state borders could have "devastating" consequences.

"We do have a lot of insects and diseases here that are detrimental to our forests," said Hoar.

"One would be the gypsy moth and we're not sure how it got here. The other one would be the Japanese beetle and that's a new one that they found recently. We think that probably came in on firewood."

Hoar noted the brown spruce longhorn beetle — which is in Nova Scotia — has a devastating effect on trees such as the Red Spruce.

Anyone caught moving firewood out of an area regulated for a quarantine without prior approval from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency can face penalties of up to $50,000 and prosecution.