An invasive caterpillar threatens trees across eastern Minnesota

DAKOTA COUNTY, Minn. -- The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is going after the 'spongy moth.' The moth threatens all kinds of trees.

This invasive breed of caterpillars is eating its way through Minnesota's leafy greens. And once the caterpillars grow up... they become moths. The female mouths then lay eggs in an orange spongy mass.

"I think the Minnesota Department of Agriculture is doing everything to keep it from getting worse in Minnesota and go westward in the state," said Heidi Bacon, an invasive species surveyor with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

Bacon is part of a team that is deploying more than 20,000 traps in the eastern half of Minnesota. She's done this over 600 times in the past month. 

"The female moths don't fly. Their sole purpose is to reproduce and lay eggs which become caterpillars. It's the male moth that we're confusing with this female moth thing in the trap. Hopefully he'll be confused to not be able to find a female to reproduce," said Bacon.

The traps Bacon and her team put together have a sticky and long lasting glue. They'll take a closer look at them in July and take them down in August; they might even have to do it all again next summer. 

Agriculture officials say everyone can play a role in protecting our forests. They recommend checking vehicles for any orange eggs on them if campers are returning from out of the state.

"What's great is we all feel the same way. We don't want anything to happen to our trees and we're all in this together to stop the spread of the spongy moth," Bacon said.