In the recent Forest Stewards Guild’s e-newsletter Across the Landscape, Hanusia Higgins reflects on her experience protecting hemlock trees in one of Asheville’s historically Black cemeteries. Hanusia served as the HRI AmeriCorp Project Conserve member from 2018-2019. In her piece “Helping hemlocks, helping humans,” she draws the connections between Asheville’s human and tree communities through the lens of the Violet Hills Cemetery’s history and its majestic hemlocks. We would like to acknowledge and thank Hanusia for this timely and relevant article.
You can read Hanusia’s article on the Forest Stewards Guild website. Hanusia is currently a master’s student at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. You can also click here to read a guest post by UNCA student Finn Digman about the cemetery and our training and treatment day there in 2019.
Violet Hills Cemetery owner and general manager, Quentin K. Miller, Jr, talks to UNCA students and HRI staff about the cemetery’s history and importance of its hemlock trees