AUGUSTA, Maine — With the start of the 2019 camping season this weekend, Maine Forest Rangers from the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry have an important message they want you to know.
Maine Forest Rangers will be going to various campgrounds throughout Maine this summer talking with campers about the risks of transporting out-of-state firewood.
They are hoping to be able to gauge and raise awareness about the dangers untreated firewood pose to Maine forests. They are interested in just how much the public knows about the threat of invasive insects.
Ranger Benjamin Goodwin with the Maine Forest Service said, “It’s one of those problems that folks don’t think about and once the invasive species get here in the state of Maine then we’re not going to be able to eradicate them. And once they affect our timber harvest and natural resources that are going to affect the whole state of Maine economy.”
Goodwin said they hope the firewood outreach campaign educates people to the risks of transporting out-of-state firewood.
The campaign will run through the summer.