Forestry officials will fan out across Pennsylvania next week hanging 10,000 triangular purple traps in ash trees to learn if an invasive green beetle has spread beyond northern Allegheny, southern Butler and eastern Beaver counties.
The sticky traps attract the inch-long emerald ash borer. The insect, which is native to Asia, has wiped out 30 million ash trees in Michigan and was first found in Pennsylvania last year at First National Bank in Cranberry Township. The trap survey is paid for with a $2.5 million federal grant.