Beetle Lab receives funding from Lumpkin Coalition
2/8/2012 6:07:19 PM
(Feb. 8, 2012) - The Predator Beetle Lab at North Georgia College & State University has received a $5,000 donation from the Lumpkin Coalition to support research to save hemlock trees across the region.
The lab raises beetles to combat the wooly adelgid, the tiny invader killing hemlock trees along the Eastern Seaboard from northeast Georgia to Maine. When active during the cooler months of the year, the adelgid looks like tiny pieces of white fluff on the branches of infected trees. A colony of the aphid-like insects can kill a tree in less than four years by sucking out the nutrients.
The lab, managed by Cera Jones, is part of the Environmental Leadership Program in North Georgia's School of Health & Science Professions. Dr. Robert Fuller, associate professor of geosciences, helps oversee the lab as well.
Since 2007, North Georgia's lab has raised and released more than 247,000 of the poppy seed-sized Asian beetles to eat the adelgid, which has no other natural predator in the east. North Georgia's mature beetles are released into specified areas of National Forest lands in northeast Georgia. And it appears the beetles may be having some effect on controlling the adelgid population. Several areas have recovery growth with little or no adelgid, Jones said. However, other areas still are heavily infested and tree health looks poor.
The tiny predators also are being raised at similar beetle labs at Clemson University, the University of Georgia and Young Harris College, which recently received a $10,000 donation from the Lumpkin Coalition.
The money donated by the Lumpkin Coalition was raised through an annual event called HemlockFest, which takes place the first full weekend in November. The Lumpkin Coalition is a nonprofit group formed to facilitate projects that benefit Lumpkin County and the north Georgia region.
The $5,000 donation will be used to purchase equipment to monitor soil moisture and temperature and air temperature in 16 hemlock conservation areas, Jones said. The areas will be monitored for the emergence of a new, third species of predator beetle the lab began experimenting with last year. The lab was successful in raising and releasing the beetle on a limited basis last year, meaning release of that species can be expanded to additional sites, Jones said.
Last year, the Predator Beetle Lab used $5,000 received from the Lumpkin Coalition to buy a four-wheel drive truck. The vehicle makes it easier to access the U.S. Forest Service areas where beetles need to be released, often only accessible by poorly maintained dirt roads.
To learn how to help, or for more information about the lab or the hemlock wooly adelgid, go to the Predator Beetle Lab web page. The site also features information about what to do if you suspect an infestation on your property.