Thursday, April 9, 2009

KY hopes beetle imports can save hemlocks from exotic pest; KY; 4/7/09

New beetle enlisted in fight to save Ky. forests CharlotteObserver.com - Charlotte,NC,USA
An aphid-like insect no bigger than an ink pen dot has been turning picturesque hemlock forests from Maine to Georgia into grotesque collections of barren trunks and broken branches.
Despite foresters' efforts to stop them, woolly adelgids have advanced south through the Appalachians like an invading army, plundering the majestic evergreens.
Having seen the carnage in other states, foresters in Kentucky are taking a new defensive tack, enlisting a species of predatory beetles native to the Pacific Northwest to devour the invaders. Can the tiny beetles, barely larger than poppy seeds, save Kentucky's hemlocks?

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