Rangers Quarantining Firewood At NH Speedway Ahead Of NASCAR Race
LOUDON, N.H. (AP) — State forest rangers are conducting a firewood quarantine checkpoint the week leading up the NASCAR race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, because of a ban on out-of-state untreated firewood due to the spread of an invasive beetle.
The speedway has large camping areas.
Rangers conducted multi-agency firewood quarantine enforcement at the speedway in 2013 and 2014 to guard against the spread of the emerald ash borer, which has destroyed millions of trees since being discovered in Michigan in 2002 and is now known to be in 25 states, including New Hampshire.
During a nine-day period last year, rangers made 225 firewood confiscations. Surveys indicated that 15 percent of the confiscated firewood came from ash borer quarantine zones in other states.
Race day is Sunday, July 19.
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