Posted Friday, November 13, 2009 --- 8:15 a.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- With the opening of Wisconsin's fall deer hunt two weeks away, hunters are being reminded of restrictions on the movement of firewood from counties with infestations of a tree-eating beetle.

The Department of Agriculture says hardwood firewood cannot be moved from Brown, Crawford, Fond du Lac, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Ozaukee, Vernon, Washington and Waukesha counties unless it was purchased from a certified dealer.

Those counties are under quarantine to slow the spread of the emerald ash borer. The beetle's larvae attack ash trees and eventually kills them by disrupting the flow of nutrients.

The Agriculture Department says it is common for deer hunters to haul firewood to their camps.

The nine-day season opens Nov. 21 for more than 600,000 hunters.

On the Net:
Emerald ash borer
Wisconsin site: www.emeraldashborer.wi.gov.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.