March 27, 2008 issue
Hemlock Summit
Vanishing Hemlock Documentary Filmmakers Visit Banner Elk’s Hemlock Hill
Story by Sam Calhoun
With thousands of Eastern and Carolina hemlocks dying each year on the East Coast from the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), a microscopic human-introduced insect pest, it behooves the scientists, arborists and conservationists who are working to save the trees and ecosystem to share information whenever possible.
On Monday, Banner Elk’s Hemlock Hill—a 5-year-old test site for biocontrols used to fight the HWA—served as a show-and-tell for Dr. Richard McDonald, who shared his biocontrol work with arborist Will Blozan and filmmaker David Huff. Blozan and Huff have almost completed filming a documentary on hemlocks titled The Vanishing Hemlock: A Race Against Time.
In the film that will be released in 2009, Huff follows arborist and champion tree finder Blozan deep into the hemlock forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The aim of the film is to document the devastating impact that the loss of these ancient trees is having on the rich diversity of southern wild forests, said Huff. Shot on location in the Great Smoky Mountains, the film reveals the extent of the tree loss and challenges audiences to take up the cause to protect what remains.
“The film is a requiem in many ways for the hemlocks that are lost,” said Huff as he climbed the trail at Hemlock Hill. “It’s to raise awareness and look at what we lost. It provides a jolt because this should not have happened. These are our lands, our mountains and our forests. We want to inspire people to act to save what’s ours.”
When McDonald—entomologist, sole proprietor of Symbiont Pest Management and former biocontrol administrator of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture—heard that a documentary about hemlocks was in the works in the Great Smoky Mountains, he jumped at the chance to show off his biocontrol work at Hemlock Hill. For the past five years at Hemlock Hill, McDonald has worked closely with the HWA and the natural predators he believes hold the answer to controlling the HWA and thus saving the remaining hemlocks on the East Coast. His work is showing that old-growth hemlocks can be saved using three kinds of beetles to kill the HWA during all parts of the year.
In the film, Huff and Blozan do not address biocontrol methods but they are interested in McDonald’s work, partly because they are donating proceeds from the film—after expenses—to various projects focused on saving the hemlocks. The film is dedicated to everyone who is working to save the hemlock, such as McDonald.
Blozan has always loved trees. Born in Maryland, Blozan moved to the Southern Appalachian Mountains in the 1970s and pursued a career with the National Park Service, taking a job in Gatlinburg, Tenn. for many years. After leaving the National Park Service, Blozan settled in Black Mountain and went to work trying to save the hemlocks.
“I’ve always been very passionate about hemlocks,” said Blozan. “And now I’m trying to leave a legacy of the species, of these big trees.
“I want this film to educate people about the Eastern and Carolina hemlock. I want people to use it as an educational and an inspirational tool,” said Blozan.
Huff, Blozan’s longtime friend, executive director of Back 40 Films and a Charlotte native, heard about the vanishing hemlocks from Blozan but realized the extent of the damage when he visited Linville Gorge more than a year ago. He said that five years ago, the damage was minimal in Linville Gorge, but today, it’s unbearable to see the devastation.
More than a year ago, Huff set out to make a film about the vanishing hemlocks. He chose the Great Smoky Mountains because the mountain range is a National Biosphere Preserve and is on the forefront of trying to save and document old-growth hemlocks.
“The film takes a look at what we have lost and I hope it will inspire people to protect public lands because we own this,” said Huff, pointing to the Hemlock Hill forest. “Most people in Charlotte have no idea what we have here, and we want to instill in people a passion to protect and preserve. The system is so slow [to organize a plan to fight the hemlocks] but people like [Blozan] and [McDonald] are working hard.”
Huff made Blozan the subject that the audience follows in The Vanishing Hemlock: A Race Against Time, and films the documentary through his eyes. Huff’s cameraman—a current NFL Films cameraman and former Army Special Forces member—is a master tree climber and scaled dozens of trees during the filming to get unique shots of the HWA devastation.
The documentary’s budget is $150,000, and the Southern Documentary Fund provided the nonprofit umbrella for donations to the project. Huff does not know where the film will be released when it is completed.
For more information, click to www.thevanishinghemlock.com.
Spring Is Here—Time To Treat Your Hemlocks
The spring and fall are crucial times for homeowners who want to fight HWA infestations in their own backyards. The lifecycles of the two annual generations of the HWA begin and end in the spring and fall, giving homeowners who do not have access to biocontrols the opportunity to use chemical treatments to kill the invasive pests.
Many chemical treatments are available at local lawn and garden stores, but homeowners should be careful not to apply the treatments in excess—that is, homeowners should be conservative with their treatments and make sure excess liquid does not coat neighboring trees or seep into waterways.
For homeowners who have fewer than 10 acres and 1 to 12 tress that are infested with HWA, independent arborist Lear Powell recommends chemical treatment to fight the HWA. Powell has soaps, oils and chemicals and recommends that homeowners use these methods in the spring and fall when the HWA is most vulnerable. Products include Ultra Fine, an oil-product, and M-Pede and Safer, both soaps, that are available at local hardware, agricultural supply and pesticide stores. But the most popular treatment is MERIT, also known and sold as Bayer Advanced Tree & Shrub.
All of these treatments can be applied through soil injections, spray-downs or direct injections—depending on the instructions on the label.
“Homeowners can do [these treatments], but it’s not going to be as effective,” Powell said. “A lot of times it pays to hire a professional—especially over a couple of trees.”
Powell recommends that people interested in saving their hemlocks should call Meghan Baker at the North Carolina Cooperative Extension at 828-264-3061 to discuss their options.
For hemlock trees less than 20 feet tall, Ryan Franks, president of Appalachian Tree Care, recommends a topical treatment, usually applied by a sprayer.
Franks uses an organic soap, Organic Life Plant Wash that doesn’t harm the surrounding environment. Similar organic soaps are available at lawn and garden stores.
Organic soap is a lot like insecticidal soap and oils but is safer for the environment—it can be sprayed directly into water with no ill effect. In terms of safety, it is considered one step above Safer Soap that is sold at most hardware stores. Safer Soap is relatively safe for the environment but can’t be sprayed directly into water.
The application of the organic soap is simple: Do whatever you have to do to spray and coat all the needles of the tree and the treatment will be effective.
As an additional bonus, organic soap doesn’t burn the new growth tissue of a hemlock that often happens when the temperature and humidity are too high.
Topical treatments should be applied in the spring and fall to align with the HWA’s breeding habits.
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