As we reported on the Exception Magazine, officials in Maine have been working to alert the public since the summer about the dangers of importing firewood from other states. That's because wood from elsewhere may contain pests such as the asian longhorned beetle (ALB) and the emerald ash borer (EAB). These invasive species could destroy our forests.

Early returns indicate the public got the message. Of 2,600 samples taken from traps across the state and analyzed by the Maine Forest Service, none contained these dangerous bugs.

“Although you can’t prove that something isn’t here in some localized spot at an extremely low level, these results, when added to work from previous years, are reassuring – at least for now,” Dave Struble, Maine state entomologist, said. “As pests like ALB and EAB continue to spread toward Maine, this is no time to drop our guard.”