By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) has big hopes for a purple trap that may be a superhero in catching the elusive emerald ash borer (EAB).

The trap will work like a spider web, with the sticky surface capturing its prey. IDOA is working in conjunction with USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on this all-out warfare against the EAB enemy.

Twenty-seven hundred of the box-kite-shaped purple traps will be placed in trees. According to the IDOA, the traps will be located in trees in a 100-mile band. The band is based on the last known southernmost infested site in Peru, Ill. The band includes 49 counties across central and northwestern Illinois.

Besides the 100-mile band, 750 extra traps will be placed in the Chicagoland area and another 250 in southern Illinois at various high-risk sites such as tree nurseries and campgrounds.

“EAB is an invasive pest that is deadly to ash trees,” said IDOA spokesman Jeff Squib. “The beetle is small and stealth-like in its behavior patterns and is extremely difficult to detect. If not controlled, it threatens to devastate the entire ash species in North America.”

While the traps will capture the EAB in infested sites, they will not lure them to areas currently not infested.

Warren Goetsch, chief of the department’s Bureau of Environmental Programs said, “It is important to note that these traps will not bring EAB to a noninfested site. They will simply let us know if the beetle is already there.”

IDOA is asking for the public’s cooperation and that they leave the purple traps in place and not move them. To help ensure the public is aware of the traps, they are trying to spread the word.

“We realize that these traps may be an eyesore to some and a source of entertainment to others, but in order for these traps to work, they must be left alone,” Goetsch said. “It’s important that the public is aware of their purpose and helps us keep them in place.”

The EAB has been known to be in Illinois since June 2006. Officials think the EAB arrived through transport of firewood, but no one is sure. However they arrived, confirmed sightings have been made in communities within Kane, Cook, LaSalle and DuPage counties. A quarantine has been issued for the northeastern area of the state in an attempt to prevent its spread.

“EAB quarantine provision compliance is urged for all contractors and public works officials around the state, and especially those within the EAB-quarantined area in all or parts of the 18 northeasternmost counties of the state,” Squibb said.

The quarantine prohibits the removal of certain items from regulated areas because the EAB in any living stage of development is a threat, including: ash trees of any size; ash limbs and branches; any cut, non-coniferous firewood; bark from ash trees and wood chips larger than one inch from ash trees; ash logs and lumber with either the bark or the outer one-inch of sapwood, or both, attached; any item made from or containing the wood of the ash tree that is capable of spreading the emerald ash borer; and any other article, product or means of conveyance determined by the IDOA to present a risk of spreading the beetle infestation.

The IDOA also stated that waste haulers must cover regulated material from an infested area during transport through EAB flight season, which is from June-August. Stiff penalties go with this edict – anyone convicted of moving prohibited items from the quarantine area without prior certification by an IDOA nursery inspector may be fined up to $500.

For more information, visit www. IllinoisEAB.com on the Internet.

This farm news was published in the April 23, 2008 issue of the Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.