'APHIS policy is to revise regulatory treatments to make them less stringent when scientific evidence supports the action,' USDA said.
Effective immediately, the revised heat treatment schedule requires ash logs and firewood to be heat treated to a minimum core temperature of 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) for 60 minutes. Previously the heat treatment schedule was 71.1 C for 75 minutes.
'When an APHIS certified heat treatment facility is located in an emerald ash borer quarantined area and other quarantine pests are present which also require treatment, the more stringent heat treatment schedule should be used for ash logs and hardwood firewood moving interstate from the facility' USDA said.
'The new treatment schedule prevents the introduction or dissemination of EAB (emerald ash borer) within the United States and provides flexibility to industry. APHIS will work with state and local agencies, as well as industry and other private entities, to implement the new treatment schedules,' the department added.
The emerald ash borer, a wood-boring beetle native to China and eastern Asia, is responsible for the death and decline of tens of millions of ash trees throughout the United States. The pest was first detected in July 2002 in southeastern Michigan. Today 14 other states are known to have emerald ash borer infestations: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Federal and state quarantines, totaling 270,000 square miles, are in place to mitigate its spread.
