State plans traps to catch emerald ash borer

Several hundred traps to catch the emerald ash borer will be installed in trees around Illinois in a state-led effort to determine the extent of infestation.

Warren Goetsch of the Department of Agriculture says the sticky traps, harmless to humans and wildlife, will be placed in a tree's canopy and baited with an oil that attracts adult emerald ash borers.

Goetsch says the 1-foot-wide by 3-foot-tall traps will be used and monitored throughout the summer.

The metallic-green bug is highly destructive. It feeds on ash trees, eventually killing them. The first discovery of the beetle in Illinois came in June 2006 in Kane County.

The insect has been blamed for killing about 20 million ash trees in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana in recent years.