Georgia forest officials are setting traps for destructive insects as they inch towards Georgia.They're trying to catch them as soon as they arrive.

The efforts include hanging thousands of green and purple traps on trees. They’re to attract insects that decimate oak and ash trees. Tracking shows Gypsy Moths are in Tennessee, 100 miles from the Georgia border.

Chip Bates is the forest health coordinator with the Georgia Forestry Commission. He says the very destructive Emerald Ash borer is even closer to North Georgia.

“Usually the beetle will bore in. It bores under the bark. It lays larvae. The larvae come out. They tend to bore around it ends up cutting the trees ability to move water and it kills the trees within two years.”

Many insects hitch rides on firewood from other states. Traps are also being hung in camping areas.

Tags: Gypsy Moths, Emerald Ash Borers, Georgia Forestry Commissions