A Hero for the Hemlocks More than two decades into the war on the deadly hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), hemlock trees and forests are re-growing and thriving up and down the East Coast. Dr. Richard McDonald has played a vital role in that process – particularly in North Carolina and the High Country – by employing a management approach featuring predatory beetles.
Armed with his signature bamboo stick and upturned umbrella, McDonald ventures wherever necessary to collect a tiny black beetle – Laricobius nigrinus – that’s taking a huge bite out of the East Coast’s hemlock crisis. “Whether it’s golf courses, parks, neighborhoods or the grounds of a state mental hospital – where I’ve been mistaken for an escaped patient – I follow the beetles,” laughs McDonald. 40
High Country Magazine
December 2015