SCHENECTADY COUNTY — A Memorial Day camping excursion checklist: tent, hot dogs, sleeping bags, tarp, lounge chairs.

But cross firewood off the list, because when you build that roaring fire come nightfall, environmental experts want to ensure you’re not carting in kindling from your own backyard in which all kind of creepy crawlies may be lurking.

New York state parks encompass more than 325,000 green acres and have 8,355 campsites available for outdoor enthusiasts to call home for a weekend or extended stay. Memorial Day weekend is the official date to start the engines of RVs or pound in tent stakes at campgrounds ranging from rudimentary to amenity-laden, but anywhere you go, a crackling campfire is the centerpiece.

The long weekend is the time when the state Department of Environmental Conservation began publicizing its “Don’t Move Firewood” campaign to prevent the spread of potentially tree-killing pests.

The campaign urges campers to forego hauling wood in and instead buy from sources near or at the campsites.

At Moreau Lake State Park in Gansevoort, located on picturesque property filled with hardwood trees, campers were filling burlap bags from a shanty full of dried pine and other logs from inside the park grounds. But most were doing it out of convenience, unaware of the state recommendations that backyard wood be left at home.

“It’s easier to buy it here at a good price than haul it in,” Charles Clothier of Saratoga Springs said Sunday. “This is all for a campfire; you don’t want to cook over pine because it affects the food flavor.”

Dan Lafar of Schenectady bought four bags at $3.50 each for a three-day stay.

“It’s not worth the effort to bring it in,” Lafar said. “But you do hear about ticks and wood disease being everywhere. Why risk it?”

New York’s forests are threatened by numerous invasive exotic insect pests, including the European gypsy moth, Asian long-horned beetles, hemlock wooly adelgids, pine shoot beetles and Sirex wood wasps. Once they infiltrate wooded areas, they cause chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease and beech bark disease, killing thousands of trees.

Another potentially devastating insect invader, the emerald ash borer, has been moving east from Michigan and was found last year in Pennsylvania. This Asian beetle, discovered in 2002, infests and kills various North American ash species — 30 million trees so far in Michigan alone.

One of the most common ways for pests to spread is by the transportation of infested firewood. The bugs can nest in logs and hitchhike hundreds of miles, escaping to infest new wooded locations. Some states have enacted quarantines, banning the importation of out-of-state firewood, and although New York state has issued advisories only, agencies may strengthen the advisory into laws in the future.

“As New Yorkers get ready to enjoy the summer camping season, we have to make special efforts to limit the unintentional spread of these extremely destructive insect pests or face serious economic and environmental consequences,” State Forester Robert K. Davies said. “No one wants to see our trees destroyed. By taking the simple step of not moving firewood, campers can help in the battle against invasive species.”

At the park office at Moreau Lake on Sunday, people at the check-in desk made fliers available about the “Don’t Move Firewood” campaign, but said they couldn’t issue fines or ban people bringing in their own supply of wood.

“If people are seen with wood in the back of their trucks, we tell them they have to burn it all before they leave the campgrounds because if there’s anything being carried in, it won’t be left here,” Debbie LaBarron said. “We can’t force them to buy wood here, but most people understand why it’s important for the park’s natural environment.”

Travis Croteau of Malta, a former fire chief with the town’s fire department, bought wood and ice at the camp office for the long holiday weekend.

“I don’t bring my own wood because I don’t want the bugs and insects in my truck,” Croteau said. “The kids like the look of a fire at the campsites, so we burn one most of the time we’re here.”