The beetle battle has begun.
As a
result, Sarah Osicka is finding herself on the front lines of an
effort to save local Hemlock trees from the current infestation of
woolly adelgids.
The North Georgia College & State University Predator Beetle Lab
coordinator, and her student assistant Michele Wiesner, are
overseeing the development of thousands of adelgid-eating Japanese
beetles.
It is hoped that these insects will consume the adelgids before the
adelgids consume the trees.
“So far we've collected over 2,000 adult [beetles],” said Osicka.
“We have 25 rearing cages that have about 1,500 eggs in each.”
The release of these beetles into the wild will be a crucial step in
the fight against infestation.
“I'm really pushing for a late March [release],” said Osicka.
Last week, the Lumpkin Coalition (LC) issued a press release
detailing the grim facts facing the hemlocks.
“In one year, one bug can produce as many as 90,000 offspring,” read
the release. “In as little as two to three years, a Hemlock tree
will die.”
Such a infestation could result in a dramatically altered Lumpkin
County landscape within only a few years.
Now that the long-dreaded arrival of the adelgid is occurring in
Lumpkin County, the LC has established a Hemlock Help-line.
Group member Mark Shearer said he has been fielding numerous calls
from local residents who have spotted what he calls the “woolly
boogers” on their tree limbs.
In turn, he provides them with advice or assistance needed to treat
the trees.
“Word is getting around and people are learning what they can do,”
he said.
Shearer says an adelgid infestation is pretty easy to spot.
“The best way is to look on the underside of the leaves,” he said.
“They look like the end of a Q-tip. They're probably about a
sixteenth of an inch wide.”
Containment of the wooly adelgid is now crucial since the
hitchhiking bugs are in their “crawler stage,” said Osicka.
This period, which runs from January to June, is when the adelgid is
most likely to spread throughout the region.
“This is basically when they move around the most,” said Osicka.
“They're most likely to attach to people's clothes and birds and
deer and will spread a lot easier that way.”
The bugs are more likely to grab onto softer, fleece-like materials
that are often worn by hikers in cooler weather.
“If your hiking through the woods and you're going off trail just
try not to brush up against infested hemlocks,” said Osicka.
Hikers are also encouraged to wash their clothes immediately after
returning from an infested area.
Meanwhile, the LC will continue to raise more funds in their
hemlock-saving effort.
On Saturday, March 29th, the local group will team with Appalachian
Outfitters to host the annual Beetle Battle Paddle.
Throughout the day, all canoe and kayak rental fees from this
fundraising trip down the Chestatee River will go toward efforts to
defend the hemlocks.
For more information visit
www.canoegeorgia.com or call 706-864-7117.
In the meantime, local residents are encouraged to check their
hemlocks for any meddlesome woolly-looking creatures.
Those that spot an infestation can call the Hemlock Help-line at
706-864-4787 or log onto
www.lumpkincoalition.org.
“It's just a race against time,” surmised Shearer.
