Last summer, while vacationing in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, we noticed some strange prism-shaped purple objects high atop the forest canopy, and wondered what they were. I had forgotten all about it, until last weekend I was reading a paper written by a student in one of my graduate school classes in which she discussed the emerald ash borer (EAB)—an insect (a type of beetle) that hitched a ride to the U.S. from China.* As its name suggests, it bores into ash trees (actually the bug’s larvae do most of the damage) and is highly destructive, having severe environmental and economic effects. Says emeraldashborer.info: “It has killed at least 50 to 100 million ash trees so far and threatens to kill most of the 7.5 billion ash trees throughout North America.” As for those purple objects, they are EAB traps (it has been determined that the EAB is attracted to the color purple, although the traps also use fragrant oils to help ensure the bugs go for the traps and not the trees). The EAB has been found in 14 states, including New York, although its range has been confined to the lower part of the state. Until now. Over at Finch Paper’s Finch in the Forest blog, senior forester Roger Dziengeleski writes that they have just been found in Albany—less than 100 miles south of the Adirondack Mountains. New York State’s forests are home to 900 million ash trees, which comprise 7% of the state’s forests. Losing that many ash trees will have extremely dire consequences for the overall forest ecosystems. The major problem is that, like many invasive species that have come from abroad, it has no native enemies in North America; officials are looking into using Chinese wasps—which feed on EABs back in Asia—to combat the pests here (but there is always a danger in introducing another non-native species into an ecosystem, so they need to ensure that there are no even more dire unintended consequences). Roger stresses that it is public awareness that can help eradicate this pest—whether it be in New York or any of the other states affected by the bug. The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation has an extensive site dedicated to the EAB, including “mug shots” or photos to help identify the critter. Public awareness is key to helping preserve forests. As wood stove season heats up, one thing that folks can do to help is not move ash firewood from one region to another; that is one way the EAB spreads.   *Lest we think that importing dangerous pests is something new, recall that the bubonic plague came to Europe in the 13th century from fleas that lived on rats that stowed away on merchant ships traveling between Asia and Europe.