Data collected by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) states that about 76% of New York’s forests are privately owned. This is about 14.4 million acres total, owned by almost 700,000 different landowners in our state. When we think about managing invasive forest pests on a statewide scale, those landowners are an incredibly important part of conserving New York’s forests into the future.

When it comes to managing hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) on private lands, landowners should be looking for presence or absence of HWA as well as the overall health of the hemlock trees on their properties. This time of year hemlock trees should be putting on new growth, which appears as bright, lime green buds all over the tree. If trees are not exhibiting ample new growth, it could be a sign that the tree has an HWA infestation and is in severe decline. In the photo at right, the hemlock with the silver fly biocontrol release bag is showing bright green tips on its twigs, giving us a sign that this hemlock, though infested, is relatively healthy and could provide a good release site for the next few seasons.