Comments on: A Call To Action: Hemlocks Threatened by Tiny Hemlock Wooly Adelgid

By: Jordan Mitchell

Jordan Mitchell — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:05:48 +0000

I don’t think the Western variety can grow in our forest conditions; the foresters have said that there is “no replacement” for the Eastern Hemlock. And typically, foresters and biologists don’t like to release non-native plants and animals into the environment – even if it’s to replace one that we are responsible for killing. An exception to this was the well-researched PT beetle, which was released to help combat the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. Unfortunately, it has largely been a failure, as the dead trees at Linville prove.

By: Donavon Stout

Donavon Stout — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:49:37 +0000

I recently hiked the Linnville Falls area with my six year old daughter and have seen the devestation from ‘Erwins View’ (its quite sickening) – I also witnessed worse in Shanendoah National Forest. It seriously breaks my heart to see the gray siloettes of once majestic trees and to think that the remaining ones will likely suffer the same fate. maybe im not the first to think of this but couldnt we be planting the seeds of the western resistant varieties among the forests in the east along with the ones being treated and in the areas where the beetle are being released.

Im not educated in this – but could they hybridize or pass on the resistancy to the future generations of trees???

By: Mike Riley

Mike Riley — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:13:51 +0000

We have been successfully been saving thousands of hemlocks in the area. Research is progressing, and hopefully the numbers of predator beetles in the area will be enough to one day reduce the adelgid populations to tolerable levels. Until then, chemical treatment is the only way to keep our trees healthy.

By: Jordan Mitchell

Jordan Mitchell — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:10:40 +0000

Yes, there is a program underway to collect and store hemlock seeds as well as grow them in far-off locations where the adelgids aren’t. It’s called CAMCORE. Here’s a link to an article about it:
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/504209.html

By: sandy norville

sandy norville — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:18:51 +0000

my friend in gerton has had swarms of these beetles as well and unfortunately tonight i saw my hemlocks with the aldegid bugs. can i save my trees?

By: Morgan

Morgan — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:07:03 +0000

If the situation is really so bad, which I think it is, should we be saving the seeds of these trees as well as others that may be lost in the Appalachian highlands?

Since January I’ve done the AT in GA/NC. I’ve hiked around the Blood Mountain/Vogel area. Did several trails in the Smokemont, Twentymile, Lakeshore Tr. area in the Smokies.
The Hemlocks even at lower elevations are starting to thin out, at first the bottom and working its way up. It is very, very sad to behold this rapid devestation.
Look, when you see the smog over Atlanta or Knoxville or watch runoff from dirty streets flow into a river or see these huge magnificent ecosystems decline into something less than they were (as with the logging of the late 19th and early 20th century) you feel ashamed of this whole system human beings have created. The same one I begrudgingly take part in every day.

By: Jordan Mitchell

Jordan Mitchell — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:15:59 +0000

Really! All the information we get from the folks releasing the beetles says that they don’t colonize like this, and that they don’t reproduce fast enough to make swarms. Well, it stinks that you’re having trouble with them – but maybe if you’re seeing that many of them, they’ll be able to put a dent in the adelgid population after all!

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:54:44 +0000

These PT Beetles have been infesting my home daily for the past week. Not just one or two, but THOUSANDS have been removed. They crawl in through cracks in my (log) home and seek out the warmth of windows and sunny locations. They are all dead by the next morning. It takes me hours to sweep up their remains. This is the second year this has ocurred with the PT Beetles, I live in the Cowee area about 8 miles north of Franklin and about 3 miles east of the little TN River at aprox 3K feet in altitude.