The Environmental Group
Save the Hemlocks Program

With the help of Georgia ForestWatch, the Environmental Group has sponsored a series of workshops and demonstrations help save Hemlocks from the Woolly Adelgid. The Adelgid is a type of aphid that is destroying Hemlocks all up and down the Appalachian mountain chain.

The Adelgid has already killed thousands of acres of Hemlock from Pennsylvania through North Carolina. This destructive pest has moved south at a rapid rate, and is now infecting trees in northeast Georgia, including Rabun, Habersham, White, Towns, and Union counties.

Workshops were held at the Sautee Nacoochee Center in June 2006 and January 2007 to provide the public with practical knowledge needed to combat the insect. The workshops featured Jim Sullivan, Georgia Forestry Commission Forest Health Program Contractor, and Michael Harris, White County Extension Agent. Mr. Sullivan reviewed the natural history of Hemlocks and the Adelgid, and discussed the progression of this parasite and how to recognize it. Mr. Harris discussed alternative treatments available, where to get the required materials and tools, and their cost. The use of a tool which injects an insecticide amongst the tree’s roots was also demonstrated.

A group purchase of a generic insecticide was arranged in order to save money for property-owners. For more information on the threat to Hemlocks, call Michael Harris, the White County Extension agent at 706-865-2832. For information on the group purchase, call Ted Doll at 706-878-2526.

Georgia ForestWatch is a non-profit organization is dedicated to monitoring and protecting the health and welfare of our national forest. The organization has raised funds to establish and a laboratory for combating the Woolly Adelgid at the University of Georgia. This lab will breed beetles that prey on the Adelgid. When sufficient numbers are raised and released, it is hoped that the beetles will slow and contain the spread of this threat to Hemlocks. The predatory beetles are a long-term solution to preservation of the Hemlocks.

Georgia ForestWatch also cooperates with the U.S .Forest Service in addressing issues such as Pine Bark Beetle control, Old Growth Tree surveys, and recreational site maintenance. ForestWatch organizes and leads regular hikes into special places in the forest for the public. For more information about hikes/activities, or to join ForestWatch, see www.gafw.org.