Endangered Hemlocks Get More Help

A boost in funding from the federal government and Friends of the Smokies has enabled the National Park to expand its efforts to save the hemlock trees.

Early this year, Park Rangers released over 50,000 predator beetles and hope to release another 100,000 this winter. With the help of Americorps volunteers, the Rangers also treated trees at all 100 backcountry campsites and at all front country campgrounds, picnic areas and historic sites. The methods used included soap sprays, soil drenches and trunk injections.

Hemlocks throughout the Appalachians are being besieged by the hemlock woolly adelgid, a tiny Asian insect that was first confirmed in the Smokies in 2002. If not stopped, the adelgid will wipe out most of the hemlocks here.

The Eastern hemlock is one of the most common trees in the southern Appalachian Mountains, and in the Smokies alone over 700 acres of old-growth hemlock are being treated by Park crews. If the predator beetles can get established in the Smokies, it would be the most cost effective way to reduce hemlock mortality.