Tsuga Search Mass   Robert Leverett
  Jun 06, 2007 08:05 PDT 

ENTS,

   Plans are now being developed for a late June meeting that would
signal the official beginning of a broad-based Tsuga Search type effort
in Massachusetts. The State's Department of Conservation and Recreation,
Harvard Forest, Mass Audubon, TTOR, Sierra Club, UMASS, and other
players would join with ENTS-FMTSF to develop a comprehensive plan to
identify, monitor, and treat representative areas of eastern hemlock in
Massachusetts. Treatment would not necessarily be with chemical means,
depending on advances in fighting the adelgid. But time is of the
essence. Will Blozan describes a veritable explosion of the adelgid
infestation in western North Carolina. Infestations are epidemic.
Evidentally, adelgid even establishes in the cracks of hemlock bark. In
a recent e-mail, Will observed "My crew has been reporting HWA settling
in and maturing in the bark cracks (where the bark is thinnest) on trees
and tops up to 10” diameter." So far, we have not experienced anything
close to that in Massachusetts and I pray we don't, but suspect the
plague will grow steadily worse. We have no time to waste. I hope all
members of the Massachusetts team agree with me.

Bob       

Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society
Re: Tsuga Search Mass   camp-@oit.umass.edu
  Jun 06, 2007 14:20 PDT 

Bob,

I, too, have seen white "fluff" imbedded in hemlock bark .. . but had no
idea what it was. I hope it isn't HWA but now I'm afraid it is.


Elisa
Re: Tsuga Search Mass   orw-@fas.harvard.edu
  Jun 07, 2007 07:47 PDT 

While we are not scouring the entire state, we are revisiting 141 stands
in MA and CT that were measured 2 years ago to examine how many new
stands have HWA. I want to mention that another pesky pest the elongate
hemlock scale (EHS) is also invasive and co-occurring very frequently
with HWA and we are monitoring that in every stand as well. (that work
is a collaborative effort by Dr. Evan Preisser of URI and undergraduate
students participating in the HF summer student program). We are
certainly seeing plenty of HWA this summer as we just did not get cold
enough temps this past winter to slow down what is now a regionally
increasing HWA population. In terms of seeing HWA on bark and branches,
I've seen plenty of boles and branches covered in woolly material,
especially at high densities, but rarely have I seen HWA and I have
never seen them actually attached to the bole and actually feeding; if
that is indeed happening, that would be a new phenomenon that should be
documented. cheers DAVE

.

Robert Leverett wrote:
  Elisa,

We're going to need to stay in close contact with Dave Orwig, who I
suspect knows the most about where it is spreading and at what rates.
We've got a war on our hands.

Bob
Back to Dave Orwig   dbhg-@comcast.net
  Jun 08, 2007 11:36 PDT 
Dave,

    I hope you will be able to join us on June 26th at Harvard Forest for the meeting on Hemlock preservation. Your experience and thoughts would not only be welcome, but might be critical to the group formulating a real treatment strategy. EOEA and DCR seem stuck on ruling out imidcloprid because of the Long Island study. But I'm banking on them changing their minds for at least a few exceptional hemlocks. Do you have any general thoughts to share with us here on the ENTS list?

ENTS,

    Just as a reminder to our membership, Dr. David Orwig at Harvard Forest is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people in the world on the spread of hemlock woolly adelgid.

Bob
Mass DCR - Forest Service Adelgid research   Ray Weber
  Jun 10, 2007 05:56 PDT 

I found this on the Mass DCR site, not sure of the date,
but these are normally recent. Its a timber harvest
that includes a joint Mass DCR/Forest service adelgid
research project.


http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/forestry/manage/docs/Forest%20Product/Central%20Berkshire/Turnpike%20Lot.pdf


Ray
RE: Mass DCR - Forest Service Adelgid research   Will Blozan
  Jun 10, 2007 07:05 PDT 

Ray,

Thanks for the link! Unless HWA is an entirely different beast than it is
down here (which may be true in how it "behaves") it really doesn't give a
damn where the tree is or how dense the stand is. An isolated tree may get
infested "later" than those in a contiguous, dense grove but the bottom line
is the same.

I don't see the merit of such research based on what I have observed down
here. Like the article Mike Leonard sent about HWA and minimum winter
temperatures, there is but one factor that will stop HWA (for now).
Isolating trees by cutting ones in between will simply not work. Do these
folks realize that HWA spreads by wind and birds? How did it get from
Virginia to Massachusetts? How isolated is that? Will a few meters between
trees stop it?

Huh?

Will

Boston Globe, Beth Daley writes another pretty good article:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/10/as_ne_warms_tiny_pests_take_root/
RE: Tsuga Search Mass   Gary A. Beluzo
  Jun 13, 2007 07:14 PDT 

Dave,

Thanks for the report. Incidentally, I was looking for Liriodendron behind
Holyoke Community College and observed that the adelgid is just beginning to
enter the area immediately behind the power plant. There the adelgid is
quite conspicuous and trees are becoming defoliated. But just beyond this
immediate area the hemlocks are putting on there new growth and I didn't see
any infestation. This is a very accessible site to follow the progress of
the adelgid. Although I am on sabbatical until February 2008 I will try to
get some students out there this September.

BTW, have you seen Liriodendron in Franklin County or north on the 3
branches of the Westfield River above Huntington? So far, I have documented
several populations as far north as Whately.

If you are still interested in getting out to Little River let me know. I
plan to do several hikes out there this summer.

Gary