pghmarty
Posts: 4253
Joined: 12/5/2004
From: Bradford Pa then Pittsburgh
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Emerald Ash Borer Traps on ANF The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) will be surveying on the Allegheny National Forest (NF) this summer for emerald ash borer, a wood-boring beetle that kills ash trees. The surveys will consist of visual detection (looking for beetles), using sweep nets to pick up beetles, and using purple panel traps to lure the adult beetles that fly.
In the counties to be surveyed, the purple panel traps will be placed in ash trees on 1.5 mile grids, approximately 8 feet off the ground. The traps are already in place on the Allegheny NF.Please leave the trap in place if you should happen to find one.
The surveys taking place this summer on the Allegheny NF will be duplicated across 35 counties in Pennsylvania as part of a cooperative effort with the following agencies:
· Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture,
· Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS),
· U.S. Forest Service, State and Private Forestry; and the
· Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Approximately 13,000 purple panel traps will be placed in all species of ash trees in 35 counties, including the Allegheny NF, starting the middle of May. Emerald ash borer adults emerge (fly) from ash trees from mid-May to early August. Purple panel traps are attractive to emerald ash borer because the beetles respond positively to purple light waves. The purple panel traps are also scented with manuka oil, which comes from the manuka tree in New Zealand. The scent of the manuka oil mimics the scent of a wounded ash tree and attracts the emerald ash borer. The three-sided panels of the trap are coated with a sticky substance which holds the beetles until the traps can be monitored by the surveyors.
The emerald ash borer is an exotic pest, native to Asia, and is currently threatening all species of ash trees within Pennsylvania and North America. The emerald ash borer, whose larvae feed inside the bark of ash trees, has no natural enemies in the United States to control its reproduction and spread. Since its discovery in southeastern Michigan during 2002, it has spread to Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Ontario, West Virginia, Canada, and was recently found in southwestern Pennsylvania. Rapid movement of this pest is primarily due to the transportation of larvae in logs, firewood, and nursery stock.
Larvae are flat, legless, heavily fragmented with bell-shaped body segments, creamy white, and reach one inch in length when fully mature. Adults are dark metallic green, a half-inch long and one-sixteenth of an inch wide. Adults emerge from late May through early August, with emergence peaking in early July. Emerald ash borer produces only one generation per year.
The surveys are underway in Adams, Armstrong, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Cambria, Centre, Chester, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Cumberland, Elk, Erie, Fayettte, Luzerne, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Somerset, Venango, Warren, Washington, Westmorelanda and York Counties. (Allegheny, Butler, Beaver and Lawrence Counties are already under quarantine for the emerald ash borer) Posted by Anne at 5:57:00 PM   Labels: Allegheny National Forest, emerald ash borer, purple traps 1 comments: Anonymous said... It's too bad info like this cannot be found on the ANF website. Everybody has been wondering what these purple boxes were about, and I couldn't find a stich of info on the website.
Kudo's to wesb for providing this info, and shame on the ANF for NOT providing it! June 17, 2008 6:58 PM  Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
< Message edited by pghmarty -- 7/1/2008 10:03:00 PM >
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