Certified firewood ???

[tyler811]

We went camping in Hartwick Pines this weekend. We always buy the bundled firewood at the campground we are staying at.

We saw a ranger and asked about firewood while on our morning bike ride. The ranger said he would drop off 2 bundles later in the day.

So we went about our day caching around the park and came back about 7 pm. I was surprised to see this label in the shrink wrap that held together the wood. I then opened up each bundled only to be greeted by black mold all over the wood. There was green mold also, so thick it looked like spider webs or fuzz a very thick fuzz.. I should have taken a picture of that. So it was stored wet, packed wet and still damp when I received it. It took an hour with a propane torch to get it going. We burned wood every winter from when I was 8 till I was 24 growing up. I never saw wood like this before.

So I guess to be certified Michigan firewood it needs to moldiest thing you ever seen.


And has anyone ever heard of "Certified Wood"


And yes I still cooked on it...thinking back though maybe I shouldn't have.

[tyler811]

Could not get the photos in the original post

[NJKris]

Plastic and wood don't get along well. Dumb packaging it like that. A mesh bag or bundling straps is the only way it should be packaged.

[gbaldwin]

Personally think the whole whole certified fire wood thing is a scam by tree huggers. That said, I was recently given a LP fire pit. Wasnt so fired up about it initially, but really convenient, clean, and really takes up less space and is about the same price to operate. Fire ON when yuo want it. Grown to like it.

[NJKris]

Amen to the LP fire pit! I just started using it, and am hooked! My buddy bought the same one on my advice, and our last trip put them side by side for one big fire pit. Every once in awhile, somebody's real fire smoke would waft over to complete the ambience!

[JayArras]

Originally Posted by tyler811

So it was stored wet, packed wet and still damp when I received it. It took an hour with a propane torch to get it going.

I certainly hope that you either got a replacement or a refund for that bundle! Having to pay for wet wood is unacceptable.

[NJKris]

They have an email on the package, but knowing wood guys, they will not give you a refund, and would probably blame the park for storing it improperly or something!

[upflying]

At least you were using organic, sustainable and renewable mold.

[robo44]

Mold & poor package aside, I think they use the term "Certified" to mean local or "Certified" to the area or state.
In some places there are may be laws about bringing your own firewood into a national or state park. Many parks ban outside wood being brought into the parks because people can unknowingly bring pests and disease into the parks on their firewood.

[67L48]

I don't know how much firewood transportation leads to the spread of invasive, tree-killing insects. I could be a real thing or it could be nonsense. I don't know. However, I'm about as far from a tree-hugger as you can get and I'm sad when I see the Rocky Mountain pine forests dying off.

Attached are two photos taken of the same exact campsite in the State Forest State Park in Colorado. The first is in 2007. The second is in 2012, with most of the trees gone ... and all of the trees across the Michigan Reservoir brown/red and dead.

Again, I'm not sure about cause/effect and how important it truly is to stop interstate firewood transport. But those photos I uploaded are an example of the tree damage that's trying to be stopped.

[NJKris]

It's apparently no joke. The guy who owns the Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania I've been cutting my trees at for the past 30 years gave me a run-down, even had pics of the offending non-native species doing the damage. I'm hearing a lot about non-native species in bodies of water wreaking havoc as well. Not knocking Asia, but it seems like the problems frequently originate from there.

[gbaldwin]

See your point .... just dont believe campers firewood to be the culprit. Think insects migrate or are transported in much greater numbers, many other ways.

Asia a possible culprit... Thats my point.

[NJKris]

Yes, it's hard to believe that seasoned firewood in the bed of my truck, going directly into firepit, is going to be infecting anything with pests. But as usual, these broad and sweeping rules are for the idiots who bring rotten or unseasoned wood, and plunk it down on the ground for weeks or months on end, or just abandon it all together at the campsite.

[gbaldwin]

No Made in China firewood for sure!

[dustman_stx]

It will only slow it down. They're trying the same thing with zebra mussels here in TX. Unless you can have 100% compliance, and we know that'll never happen, the system will fail. Only real solution is to find a way to kill the invasive species or find another organism that feeds on them.

[NJKris]

I heard about all the stringent boating rules you have down there in TX now in effect trying to slow the tide.