hemlock infestation

[greitz]

I recently saw a presentation on an insect called the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), which is an insect which infests primarily eastern and Carolina hemlock trees in the eastern US. Apparently, HWA can kill hemlock trees within 3-5 years after the initial infestation. There were some pretty scary pictures of entire sections of forest in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park which are dying or dead already. Here's one link for more info:

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/hemlock-woolly-adelgid.htm

Anyone in that area know anything more about this situation? For you forestry folks, are hemlocks commercially important timber? What will grow back in the dead sections of forest? Is there anything the Shopsmith community can do? It would be a shame to have the hemlocks go the way of the chestnuts.

There's a documentary called The Vanishing Hemlocks which is in production, but I don't know when it's scheduled for release.

Gary

[charlese]

... For you forestry folks, are hemlocks commercially important timber? What will grow back in the dead sections of forest? ...
Gary

I only have knowledge of Western hemlock - Tsuga heterophyla. In Montana it grows only in limited areas of cool and moist to wet areas. It is very tolerant of shade (even more than the firs and spruce). It is part of the canopy of a climax forest in these situations. When lost (for any reason) the species will be replaced by trees less tolerant of shade and farther away from the climax vegetation. In Western MT, this is often Doug fir, the pines, Western larch. I don't know what these species would be in the Smokies.

Is is a valuable timber species? For most of my working experience, it was a big weed. It was sometimes mixed with and sold for spruce. Most of us thought it was only good for pulp, but later, when spruce and lodgepole pine became commercial, it was also used for dimension stock. Lumber? probably only occasionally in a specialized market.