Moving firewood in British Columbia: the Lower Mainland emerald ash borer area, the Kootenay Dutch elm disease zone and the hemlock woolly adelgid rule

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows the CFIA firewood page and pest directives, a Government of British Columbia forest health page and the Invasive Species Council of British Columbia, all read October 9, 2026.

What the CFIA lists for British Columbia

The CFIA firewood page, modified September 22, 2026, lists three regulated pests for British Columbia: hemlock woolly adelgid, emerald ash borer and Dutch elm disease. It says moving firewood outside a regulated area is prohibited, and that firewood moved out of places where a regulated pest has been found can put the mover in breach of the Plant Protection Act, with penalties of up to CA$50,000 and/or prosecution.

Emerald ash borer in the Lower Mainland

The CFIA regulated areas page, modified August 12, 2026, names these British Columbia places: the cities of Burnaby, Vancouver, Surrey and New Westminster, the University of British Columbia and the University Endowment Lands. It says moving ash firewood out of a regulated area is prohibited, whether for commercial or private purposes, and that non-ash firewood can leave only through facilities registered under the Emerald Ash Borer Approved Facility Compliance Program. Its activity list for the province reads:

Date	What the CFIA recorded
May 2, 2024	Detection and prohibition of movement in the City of Vancouver
June 28, 2024	Regulated area expanded into the City of Vancouver
October 16, 2024	Regulated area expanded into the City of Burnaby
July 7, 2025	Detection and expansion to the City of Surrey and the City of New Westminster
July 22, 2026	Detection and prohibition of movement in the City of Coquitlam, confirmed through regular CFIA surveillance

The page also says movement of yard waste out of regulated areas is prohibited because it may hold ash bark, branches or trimmings, and that municipalities may have set their own procedures for handling it.

Dutch elm disease in the Kootenays

The CFIA directive D-97-07, effective June 16, 2026, calls British Columbia a partially infested province and says the disease was detected there in 2024 in the Kootenay Boundary Regional District. Its Appendix 2 describes the regulated area as part of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary and part of the Regional District of Central Kootenay, bounded by Highway 22, Highway 3B, Highway 3 and Highway 6 and the Canada and United States border, and says the whole of the municipalities of Castlegar and Salmo are inside it. The map in the directive is dated May 29, 2025.

The directive covers elm logs, lumber, firewood and other material with bark attached. It prohibits such material moving from an infested province, or from an infested area of a partially infested province, into a non-infested province. It requires a movement certificate for it to go from a generally infested province to the infested area of British Columbia, and prohibits it going to the non-infested areas of the province. Movement from non-infested areas of a partially infested province to all provinces has no requirement under the directive, with provincial or municipal law possibly applying.

Hemlock woolly adelgid

The CFIA hemlock woolly adelgid page, modified August 26, 2025, lists the province of British Columbia as a regulated area for the adelgid. Directive D-07-05, sixth revision of August 8, 2025, says it was first reported from British Columbia in 1919, that damage to the native western and mountain hemlock is usually minor, and that the requirements aim to keep the eastern populations out of Western Canada. For regulated areas of Canada, it prohibits movement of firewood of all species unless the CFIA approves it under a movement certificate.

Spongy moth and the provincial pages

The CFIA spongy moth page says the moth has been detected in British Columbia and that eradication efforts are being carried out by the province. The Government of British Columbia's spongy moth page, updated April 24, 2026, says the North American strain was first seen in the province in 1978. The Invasive Species Council of British Columbia's buy local burn local page names the spongy moth and the Asian longhorned beetle as wood-infesting species that can travel long distances in firewood, and says new infestations are often first found in campgrounds and parks. It is an advice page, not a rule.

Not published

A British Columbia provincial regulation on moving firewood: no official page found on October 9, 2026.
A provincial penalty for moving firewood: not published on the pages read.

For other states and provinces see the table on moving wood and firewood.