The invasive insect species Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) is a serious problem for our hemlock trees and forests. Jim Boxberger has written about this threat in his Garden Guru column recently. As I pen these words, the NYS DEC has just announced significant progress in the battle against HWA. It’s good news for sure.

There is a beetle called Laricobius Nigrinus that preys on the HWA. These beetles are very small (about the size of a sesame seed) and about 2,000 of them were released in the Harriman State Park several years ago. About 6,500 were released at three other sites in New York.

This year, teams of wildlife technicians were able to harvest 12,676 of the beetles from Harriman State Park due to the success in establishing a breeding population there. These excess beetles will be used to help establish populations in Vermont, New Hampshire and other areas of New York to battle HWA.

The New York State DEC has partnered with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) and the New York State Hemlock Initiative of Cornell University in battling these invasive HWA insects. Lynn Bogan of OPRHP said the partnership is making “great progress toward hemlock conservation.”

I’m very glad to hear it. I’m also happy to hear that we are able to help out neighboring states here in the Northeast. Our first Laricobius Nigrinus beetles came from South Carolina. Thank you to our friends down South for helping us in this fight. I’m glad to see that we are “paying it forward.”

The partners in the battle against Hemlock Woolly Adelgid encourage the public to get involved. We all need to keep our eyes open. When we are walking our properties or hiking in the woods, we all need to watch for signs of HWA activity and notify the proper agencies of its location.

Early detection is important. The sooner the HWA outbreak is discovered, the sooner the beetles can be brought in to combat it. If left alone, the hemlock trees will die in less than a decade. There are lots of resources available to help us identify HWA. Check out the websites of the listed agencies for more info.

The harvest at Harriman State Park exceeded everyone’s expectations and offers hope for the future of our hemlock forests. Having established populations of the beetles makes future catch-and-release efforts to establish new populations much easier.

HWA was first detected in NY in the 1980s. The first attempts at control involved spraying chemicals, which is not a good long-term solution. The beetles are.

We lost our American chestnut trees to an Asian fungus. We lost our elm trees to another fungus called Dutch Elm Disease. More recently, we’ve lost our ash trees to those darned Emerald Ash Borer insects. It does my heart good to know that we can get ahead of HWA and save our hemlocks. Keep your eyes peeled for its presence and report it.

Let’s all enjoy the outdoors!

John S. Van Etten is the current president of the Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs of Sullivan County, Inc.