The Hemlock Wooly Adelgid has arrived!

The Hemlock Wooly Adelgid (HWA), Adelges tsugae, is here! It was detected for the first time in Tompkins County and other Finger Lakes locations in 2008. The HWA is an invasive forest pest imported from Asia that has been killing Hemlock trees on the east coast, often eliminating Hemlocks in entire watersheds. It is a tiny aphid-like insect about 1mm long that forms waxy wool on the twigs at the base of the needles. The HWA will infest Hemlocks of all sizes and is readily detected on lower branches at this time of year.

There are no area wide treatments for the HWA in Hemlock forests at this time. The only practical options are for the treatment of individual trees. Tactics for area wide control that are currently under investigation, such as biocontrol and the use of fungi, but they will take time to fully develop and implement. We need to slow the spread of this devastating pest to buy the time necessary to complete these projects. Researchers at Cornell University, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, and the US Forest Service are trying to determine the full extent of the HWA’s distribution in the Finger Lakes.