What are those things?

There’s an odd, green triangle-shaped “thing” dangling from the large ash tree by the northwest corner by the intersection of 79th Street and Hwy. 52. A closer look shows a purple one higher up in the tree.

No, it’s not a late Mardi Gras celebration. Both are prism-shaped traps designed to catch the emerald ash borer (EAB), which has infested Boulder County ash trees.

According to the website Sinochemical.com, these three-sided sticky traps are designed to catch EABs. The different colors were selected based on the sensitivity of the borers’ eyes. Green traps generally catch more male borers while purple ones catch more females.

EABs are native to Asia, but were first found in Michigan in 2002. The website Maine.gov said that since then, the borer has quickly spread across the country. EABs have killed millions of North American trees, and it is feared that it could completely eliminate ash trees on the continent.