Blue hanging boxes along I- 79

[27hand]

I have been driving I-79 from Bridgeville Pa (53 mile marker)to Waynesburg (19 mile marker)for the past 7 months or so. Just recently, I noticed a bright darker blue elongated box hanging from a tree maybe 25 to 30 yds off the interstate.

It appears to be some sort of bird box.

Then i saw another one 20 miles away. Then, instead of watching the road, I found myself looking for more of these and the last day (Friday) I was on that job, I saw a total of either 6 or seven of these.

I'm thinking the first one south bound is just south of Canonsburg and another one is a mile or so before the I-79 / I-70 split at Washington Pa. I didn't see any along I 70 eastbound but noticed the rest along I 79 south of Washington.

They look to be about 16/18 inches high and maybe 5 or 6 inches square. It looks like they are hung in areas next to some wooded areas and the ones I see are elevated above the roadway.

Just wondering if anyone else sees these, knows what they are or if I will do just about anything to keep from falling asleep on that drive. Previously, I used to close my eyes on just the straight stretches and open them just before the curve in the road. I was getting pretty good at it. Sometimes the ridgy thingys help.

I'm starting a new job at the old WPXI building somewhere on the Noff side in a week or so.
I'm heading to wild wonderful WVa in a few weeks so I'll see if there are more further south.

27inquisitivehand

[markheck1]

I am guessing they are insect traps....there's a couple around here
they are some kind of state project for monitoring insects or some such.

[27hand]

I am guessing they are insect traps....there's a couple around here
they are some kind of state project for monitoring insects or some such.

I was really hoping we didn't have insects that big.

I'll see if something comes up on Google.

27hand

[markheck1]

I was really hoping we didn't have insects that big.

I'll see if something comes up on Google.

27hand

ROFL.....they are sticky paper on the inside, LOL

look something like this?

[27hand]

ROFL.....they are sticky paper on the inside, LOL

look something like this?

OK, is that you putting those things up?

Yes, that's what it is. OK, cool. Learned something. Thanks. I can go back to sleep on those straight stretches now.

27

[markheck1]

LOL....Nope...I just happened to see one up close a week or so ago at the family reunion.....it has a web address on it that I was gonna check out...but I forgot.....

[Michele]

I am guessing they are insect traps....there's a couple around here
they are some kind of state project for monitoring insects or some such.

Wow! All this time I thought the state might have been wasting/misusing my tax money. Who knew that a couple of little boxes would solve the states mosquito problem. Wow! Do I ever feel stupid!

Stay awake Hans!

[HSMaxim]

They are trying to trap the Emerald Ash Boring Beetle to track it's invasion into Pennsylvania.

http://www.emeraldashborer.info/

[27hand]

Wow! All this time I thought the state might have been wasting/misusing my tax money. Who knew that a couple of little boxes would solve the states mosquito problem. Wow! Do I ever feel stupid!

Stay awake Hans!

Quit yellin. You'll wake me.

I do stay awake when the road does bendy. AND I'm going back to Pittsburgh to work in a week or so.

27

[colagrrl]

I noticed the boxes driving that same stretch of I-79 near Canonsburg, as well as along I-70 West last week.

I asked MommaC if she knew what the boxes were and she did. It turns out that they are sticky traps, but they're not for mosquitoes, they're for monitoring the presence of emerald ash borers on ash trees. MommaC read an article about the boxes last Tuesday in the Washington County Observer Reporter...

http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/...rald-ash-borer

6/17/2008 3:32 AM

Crews fighting bugs threatening Pa. ash trees

By Barbara S. Miller
Staff writer

bmiller@observer-reporter.com

Survey crews have hung purple-paneled sticky traps resembling boxes on trees in the area, aiming to detect the presence of a nasty little bug that's infesting ash trees.

The emerald ash borer, bright green as its name implies, is just a beetle 3/8- to 1/2-inch long, but it threatens an entire species.

"It has the potential to cause impact on our plant resources - nurseries, landscapes and forests," said Greg Hoover, ornamental extension entomologist in the Department of Entomology at Penn State University, State College.

Pennsylvania's hardwoods industry is valued at $17 billion, employing 85,000 in 2,500 companies. The emerald ash borer invaded the United States and Ontario, Canada, through wood packing and shipping material from China. The Great Lakes are the suspected point of entry. It had never been seen in this country until 2002.


The ornamental entomology Web page estimates the pest has killed 25 million ash trees in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Maryland and Illinois. It was detected in Pennsylvania last June in Cranberry Township, Butler County, and resulted in a quarantine imposed on Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties.

On the Web site, Dennis Wolff, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture secretary said, "To best manage any effects of an infestation, we're working to determine whether this is an isolated incident or a more widespread problem."

Some northern and western Ohio counties have erected quarantine signs at their borders warning people not to move ash wood or hardwood firewood across borders. The eastern-most county is Mahoning, just across the Pennsylvania-Ohio line.

"Many of these exotic invasive pests are spread unintentionally on firewood," Hoover said, appealing to campers to do their part. "It may be better to gather firewood once they get to the location rather than transport firewood."

Kiln-dried packaged firewood labeled with the producer's namea nd address or USDA Certified is exempt from the quarantine. National survey guidelines call for a trap per every 11/2 square miles, and motorists may have noticed them along area highways in 22 counties.

Property owners may not have sticky traps at their disposal, but Hoover said they can check ash tree trunks and larger branches for a 1/8 -inch hole shaped like a capital D. Foliage in the crown of infested trees begins to thin because larva destroy the water and nutrient conducting cells and tissues beneath the bark, according to the entomology Web site.

Hoover asked property owners not to take drastic action, like chopping down ash trees. The felling might be for naught, because one species of tree known as the mountain ash is actually a member of the rose family, and it's not subject to devastation by the emerald ash borer. The mountain ash bears white blossoms and distinctive red berries.