A workshop for property owners with Maine Forest Service Entomologist Colleen Teerling

The Eastern Hemlock is an ancient tree species found across the Eastern United States and Canada, and an important part of our forest system. It offers shelter, food, and protection for deer and many other species of wildlife. These trees are not only highly effective at carbon sequestration but they also cool the temperature of air, soil, and water and provide critical soil erosion control on stream banks.

Eastern Hemlocks are increasingly at risk from an invasive insect called the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), an aphid-like insect that feeds by sucking sap from hemlocks. As our winters become warmer, these pests have been able to spread further north. Their feeding causes hemlock trees to lose their needles and stop producing new growth. Death of a tree typically occurs 4 to 10 years after infestation. HWA is currently present in many parts of Maine, including Lincoln County.

Property owners have a significant role to play in the control of HWA. Join Education Director Sarah Gladu and Stewardship Director Brad Weigel of Coastal Rivers and entomologist Colleen Teerling of the Maine Forest Service to learn how to identify HWA, how to determine appropriate control measures, and what Coastal Rivers and other groups are doing throughout the region to protect hemlock trees.

This program is focused on the use of biological controls to protect hemlocks. Although it may take a number of years for biological controls to successfully protect hemlock trees, it is likely the best option to save them on a landscape level. The predatory beetle Sasajiscymnus tsugae (commonly shortened to S. tsugae), feeds on both generations of HWA and is the only species available for landowners to purchase for use on their own property.

Of you are a landowner interested in purchasing predatory beetles to protect your hemlocks, please contact Brad Weigel.

Recorded on December 12, 2024 in Damariscotta, Maine