Can Asheville beat the Woody Adelgid?

From the Asheville Citizen-Times

The city of Asheville has spent $10,000 to buy 5,000 specially bred predator beetles that feast on the troublesome woolly adelgid.

Amen!
A majority of the beetles will go to the North Fork Watershed, with 1000 going to the Bee Tree watershed. The adelgid is a tiny tiny non-native insect, first discovered in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in 2002. The adelgid kills Hemlock trees, and can destroy entire swaths of forests. It has already infested the four hemlocks in my yard. Maybe Asheville has a cure? The adelgid can take up to 10 years to kill a tree, so maybe Ill have moved into a much bigger house by then. 🙂

…and maybe Ill help to re-introduce the American Chestnut.

Learn More about the Woody Adelgid, especially if you have Hemlocks.

Asheville Water Resources Director Davis Hanks says:

We are better off spending money on bugs who eat other bugs than on men who clean up dead trees

About JW Randolph

Raised on the banks of the Tennessee River, JW's work to create progress in his home state and throughout Appalachia has been featured on the Rachel Maddow Show, The Daily Kos and Grist. He served first as Appalachian Voices’ Legislative Associate and then Tennessee director until leaving to pursue a career in medicine in 2012.