Portland attempts to trap invasive insect

PORTLAND (WGME) – Portland is trying to hunt down an invasive insect, to stop it from killing trees in the city.

The city and the Maine Forest Service teamed up Thursday to try to trap emerald ash borers.

The bright green insects have killed hundreds of millions of ash trees in the state.

The city arborist found samples in a tree in Portland last week, so they're sacrificing one tree, by stripping it of bark, to make it more attractive to the bug.

The hope is the insects will go to that one tree, so arborists can trap them and stop them from spreading to other trees.

The emerald ash borer isn't native to North America, and just showed up in the region in the last decade.