Purple boxes tracking ash borer

Those purple, triangular boxes hanging in trees across Jackson County and elsewhere are part of an effort to learn how widely emerald ash borers are spreading their wings.

The traps - about 3 feet in length - are aimed at helping the U.S. Department of Agriculture determine whether the ash borer is spreading its influence. The beetle is not native to the United States and over time can kill ash trees.

"Our planned goal was to have somewhere around 10,000 survey locations between the state and federal survey components," Phil Marshall of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday.

Marshall is the DNR's state entomologist and forest health specialist, working out of offices in Indianapolis and the Vallonia State Nursery in Driftwood Township.

He expects to find locations for at least 7,000 of the traps.

They started going up in Jackson County in May, hanging in trees, mostly ash, about 12 feet off the ground.

Workers will start collecting them in August, and all should be picked up for examination by September, Marshall said.

The traps are simple - they're three-sided with a bag of bait inside.

"It's like the old fly paper," Marshall said. "The outside surfaces are sticky. Inside surfaces are not. Inside there's a pouch that has an attractant, manuka."

Manuka oil, harvested from native tea trees in New Zealand, has been effective in attracting adult beetles, according to Purdue University.

In Indiana, emerald ash borers have been found mostly in northern counties and as far south as the Fishers area just north of Indianapolis. In Ohio, they're as far south as the northern edge of Cincinnati in Hamilton County, Marshall said.

Why should Hoosiers be concerned about emerald ash borers?

"It is not native to the United States and has no natural balance, so they will destroy a tree once they attack it," Marshall said.

His advice to those curious about the traps?

"Leave them alone," Marshall said. "A lot of the traps have been falling down, and people are calling us and telling us so we can get them back up."

Gary Darlage, a Jackson County logger and a county commissioner, said he's felt little effect from the emerald ash borer, but he said that could change.

"It wouldn't affect me just too much, but it makes a difference on shipping out ash material," Darlage said.

Although he doesn't harvest a lot of ash, Darlage said it's "scattered on about every job" he cuts.

 Most of it goes to Seymour Manufcaturing Co., which uses the ash for its hand tools.

Log prices, he said, haven't fluctuated one way or another because of the pest.

Loren Wischmeier,  an engineer with Seymour Manufacturing, said the emerald ash borer hasn't posed any challenges for his employer yet, but he's concerned it could.

"Depending upon how widespread it gets, if all the ash trees are killed, it would have  a definite impact on us," Wischmeier said Wednesday.

He is concerned that his inventory of ash is lower than normal this summer, but he said that may be attributed to the wet spring and higher fuel prices.

"If the lumber market hasn't gone up but fuel has, the logger has to absorb that cost," Wischmeier, who's worked at Seymour Manufacturing for nearly 36 years, said. "Loggers may just sit idle."

Ash and hickory are the only types of wood used by the tool maker.

Ash is preferred for many hand tools, including shovels, rakes and hoes, because it's durable, Wischmeier said.

"A lot of striking tools like axes and hammers use hickory," he said.

The company also uses fiberglass handles for some of its tools.