Moving firewood in Illinois: rule 240.125, the 50 mile line and the importer certificate

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. Illinois has a written firewood rule with a 50 mile line inside the state. The Department of Agriculture's emerald ash borer pages do not cite that rule and partly disagree with each other, so each is reported below as it reads.

8 Ill. Adm. Code 240.125: firewood certificates

The Illinois General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules publishes the text of section 240.125, which carries the source note "Amended at 46 Ill. Reg. 17926, effective October 27, 2022". It sits in Part 240, the rules of the Insect Pest and Plant Disease Act.

The lists below restate the wording of the rule.

Firewood coming from outside Illinois

No person shall buy, sell, possess or import, by any means, untreated firewood into Illinois from any location outside the state.
Firewood certified by a state agency or departmental authority is allowed entry with approved labeling or documentation.
A person who wants to import firewood for resale makes an annual application to the Department for a firewood importer certificate before importing any. The certificate expires December 31 each year. Imported firewood must be free of all devastating insects or plant diseases and may be inspected at the Department's discretion.

Firewood moved inside Illinois

No person shall buy, sell or possess untreated firewood more than 50 miles from the source of the firewood.
Firewood transported more than 50 miles from its source must be treated firewood, in its original packaging, and accompanied by a Department-approved label saying it was heat treated to reach and maintain a minimum core temperature of 140 degrees F (60 degrees C) for at least 60 minutes.
The label is displayed on the bill of sale or lading, on the purchase receipt or invoice for bulk shipments or sales, or on any bundle or package.

What counts as treated firewood

The rule says firewood is "treated firewood" only when it has been heat treated to that core temperature for that time at a facility certified by the Department. The facility must have a compliance agreement with the Department and written certification, which comes in one of two ways: its equipment was checked for accuracy in the presence of the Director or the Director's designee, or it had an annual inspection from a qualified kiln service provider shown by calibration and maintenance records. The certified facility keeps records for at least three years, covering the treatment method, the volume treated, the duration of the treatment and the date, and makes them available to the Director on request.

The statute behind it

Section 35 of the Insect Pest and Plant Disease Act, 505 ILCS 90/35, titled "Importation of firewood", directs the Department of Agriculture to write rules on firewood importation with special attention to insect pests including the emerald ash borer. It cites P.A. 95-309, effective August 20, 2007. Subsection (a) of the rule says a person who fails to comply with the section violates the Act and is subject to the penalty provisions of sections 22 and 22.01.

Section 22 of the Act, 505 ILCS 90/22, says a person who violates a regulation or order of the Department as provided in the Act is adjudged guilty of a business offense and is subject to a fine of not less than US$1,000 nor more than US$10,000, paid into the Pesticide Control Fund. Section 22.01 was not read for this page.

What the Department's emerald ash borer pages say

The Illinois Department of Agriculture's frequently asked questions page on the pest is built around a decision to rescind the state's internal emerald ash borer quarantine. It says the Department no longer has regulations or restrictions on moving regulated ash materials and that compliance agreements for that quarantine no longer apply. On firewood it says the Department no longer regulates hardwood firewood moving within Illinois, that it keeps its firewood registry program for people and businesses bringing firewood into Illinois under its administrative rules, and that softwood firewood is not regulated. It also says the Department keeps an external quarantine for thousand cankers disease and walnut twig beetle and works with USDA on a European gypsy moth quarantine covering Cook, DuPage, Lake and McHenry counties.

The same page says Illinois remains within a quarantine maintained by USDA. That sentence is out of step with federal law: the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service published a final rule on December 15, 2020 (85 FR 81085, effective January 14, 2021) removing the emerald ash borer domestic quarantine regulations from 7 CFR part 301.

The Department's firewood regulations page carries, as read, an older text in which USDA regulates the whole state and all hardwood firewood is a regulated article. It describes four approved mitigation measures: removing the bark and a further half inch of wood, kiln drying with a maximum thickness of three inches, fumigation, and heat treatment to at least 160 degrees F (71.1 degrees C) at the centre of the wood for at least 75 minutes. The Department's own rule 240.125, amended in 2022, sets the 140 degrees F, 60 minute standard for firewood sold or moved in Illinois.

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