Register (no charge)

January 15, 2025
Noon ET / 11:00 a.m. CT / 10:00 a.m. MT / 9:00 a.m. PT
90- minutes

Join Olivia Hall from The Hemlock Restoration Initiative to learn about the Lingering Hemlock Project, which aims to support resistance breeding in hemlock trees for long-term control against hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA).

This project is a subset of Tree Species in Peril, a The Nature Conservancy project to further development of pest-resistant native northeastern tree species at risk from invasive pests. It focuses specifically on locating and breeding resistant hemlock trees.

The Lingering Hemlock Project is a coalition of academic institutions, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Each partner in the coalition plays a different role in the development of HWA-resistant hemlock trees, an ambitious but promising goal.

Agenda:

• Introduction, Tree Species in Peril overview: ~10 minutes
• Eastern Hemlock Decline overview: ~5 minutes
• Lingering Hemlock project details: ~10 minutes
• How to ID a Lingering Hemlock: ~15 minutes
• What to do if you’re in an area that doesn’t have hemlock mortality yet?: ~15 minutes
• Questions

More info:

The Lingering Hemlock Project, a subset of The Nature Conservancy’s “Tree Species in Peril,” aims to locate and selectively breed eastern and Carolina hemlocks with genetic resistance to the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). This insect is invasive in eastern North America and has already contributed to widespread hemlock mortality in much of the southeastern United States. As it continues to spread through the northeastern US, research into how to save hemlock trees is ramping up. While strategies such as chemical control are effective in the short-term, longer-term hemlock protection depends on biocontrol and selective breeding to promote hemlock woolly adelgid resistance. In this presentation, Olivia Hall from the North Carolina Hemlock Restoration Initiative will share more about how natural areas can participate in the Lingering Hemlock Project. In the southeastern US, project partners can locate and record data on hemlocks that remain healthy despite HWA infestations. In the northeastern US, project partners can establish hemlock plots and monitor their health and decline annually. By detecting hemlock trees that are more resistant to the damage caused by HWA, this project aims to identify HWA-resistant genotypes to support resistance breeding in eastern and Carolina hemlocks.