Great News for the Park’s Gorgeous Hemlock Trees

Finally, the park managers are getting results from one of the many different treatments they have tried on old growth and new growth hemlock forests in the Smokies that have been decimated by the woolly adelgid.

Two and a half years ago, park personnel treated the trees with a nicotine-based insecticide which was injected into the soil or directly into the tree if located close to water. Tom Remaley, forester with the Smokies, said recent lab test revealed traces of the chemical are still present in the needles of the treated trees, and he added, “the important thing is that the treated hemlocks were green and had new growth. They stood out in stark contrast to the untreated hemlocks, which had gray, transparent crowns.”

The woolly adelgid is just one of many pests that have killed more than 90 percent of the park’s Frasier firs between 1960s and 1990. Soap sprays and tiny predator beetles that feed on the woolly adelgid have also been used to combat the damage done by the destructive pests, but the results are not in as to their effectiveness yet.

Park crews have now treated all the hemlocks in the front-country campground and developed areas, and they have expanded their efforts to include hemlocks in old-growth areas like Albright Grove and Cataloochee. The hemlocks grown along streams and provide shade for fish and water animals during the summer. The Smokies contain almost 90,000 acres of forest where hemlocks make up 4,950 acres of pure hemlock forests and 800 acres of old-growth hemlocks that are at least 150 years old.

The magnitude of the effort to rid the park of the woolly little pests is best imagined with a drive through the park on a lovely day. The huge number of hemlocks and firs contained in the park is mind boggling when viewed from the roadside, and the number of hiking miles to get to them all has to be astronomical. The park managers and personnel have to be congratulated on a job well done, for the loss of just one of the gorgeous hemlocks is a tragedy to lovers of the Smokies.