Indiana's Department of Natural Resources is on the lookout for something that could destroy local trees.

Becky Wasio of North Liberty has a Good Question: "I've noticed small, green boxes or containers attached to utility poles. What are they?”

Take a closer look — they aren't flies circling the trees — the white spots on the bark are moths.

Back in 2005, gypsy moths were found in our area. The moths live and breed to destroy trees.

The DNR is now checking for gypsy moths. The container used is scented with the smell of a female gypsy moth which attracts males.

That allows the DNR to know if there are gypsy moths in an area, how many there are, and what the state might do to fight them.

During the spring, the DNR sprayed in certain spots around the state with a crop duster to kill the moths in their caterpillar form.

That included spraying in St. Joseph and Elkhart counties.

The state does a second round of spraying later in the year to disrupt the mating process.