Kyle Gies, Biological Technician, USDA, Emerald Ash Borer Program, assembles one of the purple traps to be used throughout the Eastern and Southern parts of the state this summer.
Traps to survey Ash Borers
Will be set throughout Brown County
By BRETT ROLLER Staff writer
COLUMBUS - The Ohio Department of Agriculture announced it will be setting traps throughout Brown and surrounding counties to check for Emerald Ash Borers.
The one-foot by two-foot purple traps will be hung near Ash trees every 1.5 miles across the county. The traps are designed to survey the area to see if ash borers are present, not to capture and eliminate them. The beetles are attracted to the traps using a scented lure and are held to the trap using a glue.
The Emerald Ash Borers are native to eastern Asia and were first discovered in North America in Michigan in 2002. According to the Ohio Department of Agriculture website, adults are dark metallic green, 1/2 inch in length and 1/8 inch wide, and fly only from mid-May to September. They were found near Toledo begining in 2003 and have continued to migrate throughout the state. The Ash Borer will migrate half a mile per year on its own. The borers are a threat to ash trees because they damage the tree's ability to transport nutrients and water where they are needed. Trees attacked by the borers slowly die.
The beetles pose a major threat in Ohio according to department spokeswoman Melissa Brewer. Approximately 10 percent of all trees in Ohio are Ash. The trees are a highly valued hardwood tree used for lumber and specifically baseball bats, and they are a fast growing shade tree.
The beetles are being compared to Dutch Elm Disease of the 1930s and Chestnut Blight which wiped out nearly all of the American Elm trees and many of the Chestnut trees in Ohio.
The purple traps are a new tool that has been researched by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is being used for the first time this year. Previously, the Ash Borers were detected by cutting four to eight inches of bark off a tree in the spring to put it under stress. Insects are attracted to stressed trees and in the fall workers would return to cut down the tree. They would then examine all of the bark in search of larvae.
"Emerald Ash Borers are a very elusive insect," Brewer said. "They spend most of their life in the larval stage hidden underneath the bark of ash trees."
The new purple traps will save man hours, save trees, and be more efficient overall. They will be placed from late April to early May and will be recovered for evaluation in the fall.
The Department of Agriculture may re-apply glue to the traps mid-summer.
If the beetles are found in Brown County, the county will then be placed in quarantine, which will make the transport of hardwood firewood, ash trees, and ash logs illegal. Violations could result in a fine of up to $4,000.
Brown County residents can help prevent the spread of the Emerald Ash Borers by using firewood that originates very near the burn site and not transporting ash trees and logs across county lines.
If residents want to participate in the survey this summer they may contact Ohio Department of Agriculture Emerald Ash Borer hotline at 1-888-OHIOEAB (644-6988) or visit the website at http://www.OhioAgriculture.gov/EAB
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