Texas Invasives News

If you see  a purple  sticky trap at the Refuge, you are witnessing front line efforts to detect a new Texas invasive.

Refuge Manager Kathy Whaley announced last week that HagermanNational Wildlife Refuge will be among the locations throughout Texas where nearly 2000 emerald ash borer traps will be installed this year by USDA Plant and Animal Inspection Service, Texas AgriLife Extension, the U. S. Forest Service and other agencies.  

The emerald ash borer is a non-native insect that attacks only ash trees.  It  is native to Asia and was first detected attacking ash in Michigan in 2002.  The metallic green colored, wood‐boring beetle is well established in Canada and 15 states of the U.S., and expected to eventually threaten Texas trees;  all species of  North American ash can be affected.

The emerald ash borer traps are purple, coated with a sticky surface and baited with an attractant, are specially designed to attract the borers, and are nontoxic.  They are being placed in or near ash trees this spring, before the flight season for the emerald ash borer begins.

Traps will be checked periodically and removed and checked in August after the flight season ends.  Traps will not bring emerald ash borers into the area, but will attract borers emerging from nearby infested trees and help officials determine their presence.

Fallen traps can be reported to the Refuge or if elsewhere in North Texas, to Charlie Helpert at

c‐helpert@tamu.edu.

For more information on the emerald ash borer and other Texas invasives, see http://www.texasinvasives.org/.

On August 11, Saul Petty, Invasive Species Biologist based at Hagerman NWR will be presenting a program on invasives at the Refuge, for the Friends of Hagerman Second Saturday program.