DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - Agriculture officials in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota said Wednesday that Taylors Wood Products firewood sold at Menards and possibly some other stores may contain emerald ash borers, which have killed more than 20 million trees in other states.

Officials said consumers should burn the wood immediately, before any larvae transform into beetles.

The three states learned that thousands of bundles of the Taylors firewood came from trees cut in Illinois - which is under a federal quarantine intended to keep any infested trees or wood from leaving Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and southeastern Ontario.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a national recall on the Taylor's firewood, but most of it has already been sold.

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said ash is one of the state's most important trees. North Dakota has almost 50 million ash trees, conservatively valued at $3.5 million, in urban, shelterbelt and native plantings, he said in a statement.

"It is important that this firewood be destroyed immediately to prevent the possible introduction of this very destructive insect into North Dakota," Johnson said.

The Taylors firewood came in small bundles wrapped in plastic and marked with the company name, said Mike Schommer, spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

"The good news is that Illinois is the least infested of the quarantine states," Schommer said. "But we know EAB is there (in Illinois) and you don't want to take any of this lightly."

Across the region, state and federal officials have been working to keep campers, cabin owners, anglers and others from moving wood that could be infested into other areas.

It's not known if any of the Taylors wood actually is infested.

It's also unclear how many Menards stores carried the wood in question. Menards stores in Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota also received the wood, and it may have gone to some Home Depot and Lowes stores as well, Schommer said.

Unlike some pests that damage, defoliate or kill only some of the trees they infest, emerald ash borers are nearly 100 percent fatal to all varieties of ash.

The insect threatens millions of boulevard ash trees in Minnesota and Wisconsin cities and hundreds of millions of wild ash trees. Northern Minnesota has the highest concentration of black ash of any forests in the U.S.

It's believed the ash borer - which is a half-inch, emerald green beetle as an adult but wreaks havoc as a wood munching larvae - came to the U.S. near Detroit in the late 1990's from China, arriving in wood pallets or packing crates.

No wood can legally leave the quarantine area unless it has been debarked or treated, and the Taylors firewood still had its bark, said Geir Friisoe, Minnesota Department of Agriculture plant protection division director.

"We are working with retailers to withdraw any of the wood that has not yet been sold, but since much of it has already been sold to consumers, we are asking people to help us get rid of the wood by burning it as soon as possible," Friisoe said. "If this wood is not burned by May 4, there is a chance EAB may emerge and infest nearby ash trees."