Traps could help detect emerald ash borers in Indiana

5/12/2008

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is putting bright purple traps out around the state to help find tree-killing emerald ash borers.

The purple traps look like box kites and will be hung in trees about 12 to 15 feet off the ground. They will be placed about every 1.5 miles across much of the state so that officials can see where the pests are located.

Officials say the traps don t attract new emerald ash borers they simply help find already existing insects drawn to oil in the devices. The traps will be removed in the fall.

Large infestations of the green insect have killed millions of ash trees in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana since the borer was first found in the United States in 2002.