AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Forest Service says a survey crew has begun a search Down East for signs of an invasive insect that’s already damaged trees along southern Maine’s coast.
A Forest Service crew is looking for evidence of hemlock woolly adelgid on Mount Desert Island. The crew also will work with national park and U.S. Forest Service staff to survey in Acadia National Park before moving on to coastal Waldo, Hancock and Washington counties.
Forest entomologist Allison Kanoti says the invasive insect was reported last year at two sites on the island and in January in Alfred, suggesting that the insect population is moving inland and up Maine’s coast.
The hemlock woolly adelgid resembles miniature cotton balls. It causes infested trees to have off-color needles and eventually kills them.
I’ve seen the beautiful insect predators called “darning needles” eating wooly adelgids on hemlocks in the North Woods near a lake where the “darning needles” live right outside my camp.
But I wouldn’t report it to the government agencies as they would no doubt swoop down with all manner of pesticides, killing all life in the area, including the fish and beneficial insects.
The adelgids did some damage and a few very young hemlocks died, but most hemlocks survived, and those that survived are still there and thriving years later.
Don’t kid yourself. Wooly Adelgids have desolated the hemlock population in almost its entire American range. If they are in Maine its a catastrophe notwithstanding your swarmy remarks about government agencies and darning needles. Predators have been released but the jury is still out on their success. Take a gander at the hemlock stands in Southern New England, that may cure you of your vacuous optimism.