State officials have proposed ending a ban on the transport of firewood and ash products across much of Maine — a restriction meant to slow the spread of an invasive, tree-killing beetle — because they say people are not following the rules.

That’s prompted pushback from a number of Wabanaki tribes, their members and researchers concerned about the impacts on brown ash, a culturally significant species to the Indigenous nations in Maine.

Since the emerald ash borer was discovered in Maine in 2018, tribal members have found themselves in a race against the beetle.

They’re not willing to give up now.

The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry says the quarantine, intended to silo two growing infestations in the northern and southern parts of Maine, is no longer effective.

Their evidence?

Satellite infestations in Bar Harbor, Benedicta, Jackman and other towns thought to be sufficiently distant from the already-infested forests. That means human movement of infested firewood, and not natural spread of the beetle, is to blame, officials say.

“We have seen the pace of isolated detections increase and expect that to continue,” Jim Britt, spokesman for the department, said in an email. “In short, the quarantine has failed as a strategy for containing the pest.”

The department is instead hoping to direct resources to “activities that have a greater long-term benefit, including public outreach and education, biological control efforts, and continued surveillance,” Britt said.

Not so fast, says Tyler Everett, a member of the Mi’kmaq Nation, forester for the Passamaquoddy Tribe and doctoral candidate at the University of Maine specializing in impacts of emerald ash borer on tribal ash resources. He sits on the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Waponahkik working group and is critical of what he calls a “throw-in-the-towel kind of response.”

“There is still something to lose,” he said.

John Daigle, a member of the Penobscot Nation and a professor of forest recreation management at UMaine also involved with APCAW, says Maine needs to “do everything we can to try and keep (brown ash) in our forests.”

Maine first banned the transport of hardwood firewood and ash products outside the quarantine areas in Aroostook and York counties in 2019 after the green, metallic-looking beetle was discovered in Maine the year before. That quarantine area has expanded as the state’s infestation has grown, and grew to include a ban on wood transports from outside the state in 2021 after the federal government pulled the plug on its interstate quarantine.

Still, APCAW and the state both estimate that 30% to 35% of all ash in Maine is outside the quarantine zone.

“If we allow the movement of firewood, we’re definitely going to see more of these satellite infestations,” Everett said.

The beetles eat through the nutrient-carrying ash wood under the bark, leaving a maze of channels in the wood fatally hampering the tree’s ability to transport nutrients and water.

In one Wabanaki creation story, hero Gloosekap shot an arrow into the brown ash and the Wabanaki people emerged from within. The tree holds significant cultural value; weavers pound its wood into pliable splints and weave them into baskets.

Since ash came under threat, tribal members and partners have stepped up efforts to preserve it by monitoring ash stands, collecting seeds and harvesting brown ash trees. Fewer than one in five brown ash are of basket-making quality.

The Mi’kmaq Nation has a tree bank of brown ash supply for its weavers and is harvesting trees from tribal lands before emerald ash borer arrives, Environmental Health Director Shannon Hill said in an email.

Although no one is under the impression that the quarantine can halt the pest’s invasion, some are still hopeful that public cooperation will buy some time. The Mi’kmaq Nation opposes the repeal, as does the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Everett said. APCAW members are trying to organize the public in opposition to the rule change.

“If the quarantine stays, that will give us time to make the preparations needed to identify, harvest and store this very important tree,” Hill said. “We know the devastation is going to happen whether the quarantine is lifted or not, but by delaying the lift, it gives us time to prepare.”

The Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry is accepting comments on the proposed repeal through Aug. 28 and will hold public hearings on Aug. 18 in Presque Isle and Old Town (with a virtual option) at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.

Reuben M. Schafir is a Report for America corps member who writes about Indigenous and rural communities for the Portland Press Herald.