Hemlock Wooly Adelgid Infestation

in

The Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest

and

The USDA Forest Service’s Suppression Effort

The Hemlock Wooly Adelgid is a small, not visible to the naked eye, insect that was introduced to North America from Japan in the 1930’s. Slowly it has spread eastward, where the infestation has become fatal to both Eastern and Carolina Hemlocks. The latter of these species is not wide spread. It grows on dry, elevated ridges. The Eastern Hemlock is plentiful, on the other hand, and flourishes in low wet areas, along mountain streams. They are large, very pleasing to the eye, evergreens. In the Appalachian Trail corridor in Georgia, Eastern Hemlocks are found in the in one of the largest groves south of the Great Smoky Mountains along Stover and Long Creeks in the Three Forks area.

The HWA feeds on the hemlock’s nutrients at the base of the tree’s needles. That destroys the needles and weakens the tree. Hemlocks can die in as quickly as 4 years when the infestation is heavy. Identification of the infestation is not difficult. The picture above is very representative.

The problem first surfaced in Virginia in the 1950’s and has spread up and down the Appalachians. HWA has found it’s way into the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. Eastern Hemlocks are dying in the area of the headwaters of the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River. The presence of the HWA species has been detected in the headwaters of both the Hiawassee and Chattahoochee Rivers.

The C-ONF has proposed a suppression program that consists of the use of a nicotine based insecticide and/or the release of a US Department of Agriculture approved non-native, predatory beetle species.  114 sites, from 4 to 1,291 acres in size, have been selected for the suppression effort. We have identified one of these, a 1,078 acre tract, as the Three Forks area. That site appears to include the corridors of Stover, Long, Chester and Noontootla Creeks.

In compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act, the Forest Service has solicited public comment. The Georgia Appalachian Trail Club has responded with support of the program and a requested that the Three Forks area receive priority treatment.

The preparation of an Environmental Assessment, also a NEPA requirement begins in March 2005. Once that is complete, and predatory beetles are on hand, the suppression program can begin.

Not all 114 sites will receive attention immediately. Resources, including predatory beetles are limited. Georgia Forest Watch advises us that C-ONF’s primary source for predatory beetles is a laboratory at Clemson University. They described it as state-of-the art, but said it had demands beyond C-ONF’s needs on it. Georgia Forest Watch believes that a predatory beetle cultivation laboratory should be established in Georgia. The University of Georgia, Athens, and the University of North Georgia, Dahlonega are both recognized as excellent sites for such an operation. Start up cost for a lab is relatively low, compared to other government supported ventures. However, this requires public funding, and that is subject to the forces of politics. Stay tuned.

There are a couple of other things the GATC membership should know about the Forest Service’s HWA suppression program. The first is that all of the sites, other than the Three Forks area, identified by the Forest service as designated for suppression activity, were not, in the time allowed, completely ruled out as being in the corridor of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, or in the viewshed. We suspect that several of these sites are in the viewshed, and expressed that in the response submitted. Some work on our part is in order to determine what is in, and what is not. The second is that the Forest Service said it would allow other sites beyond those identified to be included for the suppression effort. The criteria was 50+ hemlocks in a < 3 acre tract, providing the hemlocks equaled the height of the tallest trees in the tract. Unfortunately, the Forest Service allowed only until the end of February to identify such sites. The Club’s response contested that, and asked that the identification of qualified sites of hemlocks for HWA infestation be extended until such time as the infestation is under control.

Substantial technical information about the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, the infestation and the approach to suppression can be found  at: http://www.fs.fed.us/na/morgantown/fhp/hwa/hwasite.html.