—Photo courtesy of Margot Wallston

When you gaze out at our mountains in the winter, the magnificent dark green stands of Eastern and Carolina Hemlocks used to stand out against the winter browns of decidous trees. However, as many of us have observed, these trees seem to be losing the battle with the invasive wooly adelgid (HWA) –  a tiny aphid about the size of a poppy seed that suck the sap from new shoots. Foresters estimate that nearly 80% of our southern hemlocks may already have been killed by this tiny insect.  Infected trees are easy to spot from the white cottony egg sacs that cling to the smallest twigs. Read more