Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) is an aphid-like insect native to Asia that has plagued eastern hemlock trees in the Appalachian Mountains beginning in the 1950s and is now all the way up to our island in Maine where we know that it is spreading in our forests.
Partner organizations including Acadia National Park, the Maine Forest Service, Land & Garden Preserve, and the Sanctuary have teamed up for several years to identify HWA locations, provide educational resources to landowners, and to start treating affected trees with predatory beetles that feed only on the adelgid insects. The beetles are costly (about $3 each!), but we are trying to buy time for the hemlock trees by providing an ally who will hopefully put a dent in the adelgid population. With landowner permission and cooperation, we place beetle colonies where adelgid numbers are the highest in the watershed, recognizing that the adelgid knows no property boundaries, and that slowing their spread helps hemlock trees on everyone’s property.
The Maine Forest Service has a lot of helpful HWA information on their website.
If you see what might be HWA on hemlocks on your property in the Somes Pond-Long Pond watershed or elsewhere on MDI, take photos and please contact the Sanctuary at somesmeynell@gmail.com or call 207.244.4027.
