YHC Beetle Lab Update

February 17, 2007, Vol. 2, Num. 3

This is the third of our monthly updates on the progress of Sasajiscymnus beetle production in the Young Harris College Beetle Laboratory for the year 2007.  You are receiving this ãnewsletterä because you have shown an interest in our beetle production facility through phone calls, meetings, conversations, e-mail, or donations.  If you do not wish to receive any more updates, please let me know by replying to this e-mail indicating such, and I will drop your e-mail address from my list.  If you are aware of other individuals or organizations that may want to receive information about our facility, please let me know at ptarnold@yhc.edu.

I.  Brief Statement of Financial Condition

Income÷

Between January 17 and February 16, 2007 we have received 21 donations from individuals totaling $1905.  Thank you so much for your help . . we couldnât operate without it!  A special thanks goes to the Georgia Sierra Club members who have continued to respond to the Georgia Sierran article written by Larry Winslett last month!  In addition to the monetary donations, 10 individuals (5 community people and 5 students) have donated a total of 101 hours of labor.  These individuals have been involved with the collection of infested hemlock branches, preparation of hemlock ãbouquetsä for oviposition jars, and feeding and watering rearing and storage cages, and aspirating emerging adult beetles for release.  Volunteerism is the heart of this project, and I thank all of those who have spent long hours doing tedious work!  This has been a record month for us for both monetary and labor donations!

Expenses÷

Between January 17 and February 16, 2007 a total of $91 was expended.  This amount included the purchase of wet foam, hand cloths, stretch gauze, and plastic containers which have been converted to release containers.

Current Balance÷

As of February 16, 2007, we have a balance of $11,560 in our Hemlock Project restricted account. 

II.  Beetle Production Progress

As of now, we have set up 53 rearing cages and we currently have 34 oviposition jars in production.  Four of these jars have been set up by two individuals who have ãadoptedä them and are maintaining them on a weekly, volunteer basis.  Our lab has produced nearly 3000 beetles thus far this season (double the amount we had this time last year), and adult beetles are being produced now at a rate of 150-200 new adults per day.  We are quite a bit ahead of last yearâs production numbers, and because of this we had our first release on February 16^th, almost a full month ahead of last year!  This release occurred at Slaughter Creek in Union County.

Beginning with this first release, we will continue to release most of our beetles on National Forest land, however we will try to expand our release sites to include Georgia DNR land, as well as other tracts of land that are of great ecological significance and that fulfill our release criteria.  Because of the great need for beetles, we are forced to perform ãtriageä with prospective release sites, making sure that beetles go where they are most needed.  Most of the release sites have been assessed by U.S. Forest Service and Georgia Forestry Commission personnel as high priority sites for HWA control.

The new beetle-rearing facility which will be located in a former faculty house is coming closer to reality.  Now that the house is vacant, our maintenance department will be able to work inside the facility.  We will be completing our assessment of projected costs for remodeling of this building by the end of this week.  I will include more specific monetary figures in the next newsletter.  At this point, expenses will include those of: putting in new studs to create an ãinner wallä around the perimeter of the house in order to beef up insulation (it currently has very poor insulation), putting in a new breaker box and rewiring the entire house, installing a bank of lights in the two growth rooms, each on timers, stripping the carpet off of the existing floor and putting down a new floor covering (probably vinyl), putting in individual thermostatically controlled heating units and air conditioning units in each of the two rearing rooms, putting in some laboratory benches in the work area, and installing a water distiller in the ãkitchenä area, pouring a concrete slab for our new walk-in cooler and running electrical to it, and anything else that might come up that we havenât thought of yet.  At this time we anticipate beginning our remodeling efforts in earnest after graduation in the spring (the first week in May).  We will try to complete all the phases of construction before the end of the summer, allowing us to begin next yearâs rearing season in the new facility.  In addition, we are also looking at the possibility of grant money to help pay for this effort.

Another exciting development that has occurred over the past month is the hiring of two additional student workers ö Jon Schnurr and Erica Shields ö who will join Casey Taylor (who has been working for us since last summer).  Jon & Erica have been a wonderful addition, and they have enabled us to keep up with the increased work load this year.  Casey continues to be our ãteam leaderä who continues to admirably perform duties that no one else wants to do!  In addition to our paid personnel, our volunteer labor pool has increased among students, faculty, and community individuals.  We even have a volunteer who comes up once a week from Lumpkin county!

Finally, we are beginning to investigate the possibility of researching the effectiveness of our beetle releases on hemlock stands here in Towns & Union counties.  A relatively new field assessment technique developed by Dr. Scott Costa at the University of Vermont will possibly enable us to do this with volunteer labor.  Jim Wentworth of the USFS and I have talked about the possibility of hosting a training program on the technique for possible field volunteers who are interested.  There will be more on this possibility in the next newsletter.

III.  Current Beetle Lab Needs.

With our increased student labor and volunteer labor, we have been able to increase our production a bit from last year.  We hope to continue to do this.  Our current needs are:

1.  More volunteer labor.  I have been very happy with the steadily increasing number of volunteer workers, but we can always use more.  We are still in a constant battle of keeping up with the appetite of the beetles by supplying them with new infested hemlock branches.  We would love to have more volunteers who are interested in collecting infested branches from the field and delivering them to the laboratory.  It is very important, however, that any such volunteers contact me first for ãtrainingä on the field collection and transport of infested hemlock branches!  It is not that difficult, but it is important that we understand the precautions involved with transporting these branches so we donât spread the adelgid.  In addition to field collections, we can always put people to work in the laboratory and rearing facility.  Our ãadopt-a-jarä program has already resulted in a 13% increase in potential beetle egg production which will hopefully result in a similar increase in adult beetles.  If you have one or two hours you can spend once a week you will be able to take care of your own jar of beetles with a minimal amount of training!  Lastly, we will be calling for volunteers who would like to be trained to assess adelgid populations in the field.  If you enjoy spending time in the great outdoors, this may be the job for you!  Eventually we would like to assess our release sites as well as ãcontrolä sites (that have had no beetle releases) in order to help assess the effectiveness of Sasajiscymnus in reducing adelgid populations.  Please let me know if any of these opportunities are of interest to you.

2.  Monetary Donations.  Donations of money to this project are always well appreciated.  This money is deposited into a restricted account at Young Harris College, and 100% of the money is used toward raising and releasing Sasajiscymnus beetles.  We are anticipating increased expenses this year associated with the conversion of the faculty house to a new beetle rearing facility later this year.  Hence, any donation will be received with great appreciation!

III.  A Final Word

This beetle laboratory is truly a team endeavor.  The devotion of the workers and volunteers has been outstanding and shows that just a few people can make a world of difference.  This project transcends the boundaries of politics and culture, as many different people are working with the goal in mind to hopefully reduce the impact of HWA on our native hemlock stands.  We at Young Harris College also feel that we are part of a larger partnership that involves many local, state, and federal agencies and groups.  We are very happy that the UGA laboratory is up and running, and we wish to help them in any way that we can.  Please continue to support them in their efforts, as they bring the research experience and production capability that will potentially have a great impact on cutting edge adelgid control methodology.  North Georgia College & State University is also putting forth great effort to begin a predatory beetle facility in Dahlonega.  Dr. Robert Fuller and colleagues will be a great addition to ãthe fightä as the adelgid advances in Lumpkin County and other areas south of our location.  They can count on our support as they establish their facility.  Just like our facility relies on monetary donations to operate, please remember that the new NGCSU facility will also need monetary support!  I continue to have undying appreciation to the folks at the Brasstown Ranger District (USFS), especially Jim Wentworth & crew, as they continue to pick up our beetles and release them on top of all of their other duties.  The Georgia Forestry Commission continues to lend their support to our efforts through collaboration, we anticipate even further interaction as the year continues to progress.  I would love to name each volunteer and contributor to our project, but both space, and the wishes of many of our workers and donors to remain anonymous, prevents me from doing so.  But hopefully they know my appreciation.

Our current lab hours are:

                Monday, Wednesday & Friday ö 11 a.m. ö 12 noon & 1 p.m. ö 5 p.m.

                Tuesday & Thursday ö 10 a.m. ö 12 noon & 1 p.m. ö 2 p.m.

Feel free to come by any time and visit.  Our lab is located in room 109 in the Maxwell Center on the Young Harris College campus (I usually am not in my office, so come directly to the lab!).  You may wish to call ahead since occasionally I will have meetings that may necessitate my absence.  I can always be contacted on my cell phone:  (706) 781-5946, or my office phone (706) 379-5131, both of which have voice mail.

Anyone interested in helping us should contact me (706-379-5131 or 706-781-5946), Dr. John Wells, Interim President of Young Harris College (706-379-5111) or Bert Huffman, Advancement Director of Young Harris College (706-379-5112).

Respectfully,

Paul T. Arnold, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology & Director of the YHC Predatory Beetle Rearing Facility

Young Harris College