Several purple triangular bags have been spotted hanging in West Virginia, Maryland and other states in the mid-West and East Coast. According to Biff Thompson, an agricultural inspector for the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the purple rectangles are actually traps to determine whether there are emerald ash borers (agrilus planipennis fairmaire) in the area.
EAB are a type of exotic invasive beetle that attacks ash trees. Thompson says the trap has three sides and is sticky on the outside. Inside the trap is lure that contains munuka oil. The oil is taken from a live ash tree  and attracts the nuisance if it’s in the area. The traps are set up near openings and roadways within a 100 mile radius from a known infestation site. The traps were set up in March in our area and will be taken down in August, Thompson said.
“Three hundred-sixty-six traps have been put up in Allegany and Garrett counties,” he said. “And as far as I know, there are no emerald ash borers in Western Maryland.”
Thompson noted that in order to prevent other infestations, programs have been put into place to ask campers not to haul in their own firewood.
EAB were found in Fayette County last year. In response to the infestation, a quarantine was placed on firewood and other wood materials for the entire county.
The pests were also discovered in southeastern Michigan, near Detroit, in the summer of 2002. Although the adult EAB does little harm to the ash tree, the larvae are a different story: They feed on the inner bark of the trees, disrupting the tree’s ability to transport water and nutrients.
And closer to home, EAB were found in Maryland two years ago.
According to the EAB Web site, the beetle has:
• Killed more than 30 million ash trees in
southeastern Michigan alone, with tens of millions more lost in Ohio and Indiana. Most of the devastation is in southeastern Michigan.
• Caused regulatory agencies and the United States Department of Agriculture to enforce quarantines (Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia) and fines to prevent potentially infested ash trees, logs, or hardwood firewood from moving out of areas where EAB are found.
• Cost municipalities, property owners, nursery operators and forest products industries tens of millions of dollars.
To learn more about the emerald ash borer, how to detect and report problems, visit www.emeraldashborer.info.