Summer 2026 Newsletter

2025-2026 Season Accomplishments

by Alicia Walsh, HRI Forestry Crew Leader

We ended last year’s treatment season with a strong sense of accomplishment as we reflected on all we were able to achieve despite lingering setbacks from Tropical Storm Helene and the Black Cove Complex fire. Many of our team this year were seasoned veterans, with multiple years at HRI under their belt, who, after a restorative summer break, started the season energized and motivated to hit the ground running! We took advantage of their infectious energy, and started our season with a multi-day camping treatment trip along Wilson Creek, in Caldwell County. We had started treatments in this area in the Spring of 2024, and now, a year and a half later, we were able to return as the recovery efforts allowed for safe access to the river. While this area was heavily damaged by Tropical Storm Helene, we were heartened to see that most of the hemlocks we had treated in 2024 survived, and we were able to further help with bank stabilization by treating an additional 687 hemlocks along the river over the course of three days. Buoyed by the success of our Wilson Creek trip, we turned our eyes westward to our Nantahala National Forest sites. Over the course of the next month and a half we went on three more multi-day overnight treatment trips, working in three of North Carolina’s western counties: Cherokee, Jackson and Macon. During these trips we were able to treat 23 Hemlock Conservation Areas (HCAs), ensuring continued protection of over 1,500 hemlocks.

Among the HCAs treated on these overnight trips was a never-before-treated HCA encompassing Whitesides Mountain Trail between Highlands and Cashiers. The next time you’re hiking the 2-mile loop trail, see if you can note when the eastern hemlocks that grow sporadically across the trail start to become interspersed with their more rare Carolina hemlock cousins, an endemic species unique to the Southern Appalachian Mountains with about 80% of their wild populations residing in Western North Carolina. The Carolina hemlocks at the top of the Whitesides Mountain Trail were cored as part of the the Highlands Biological Station’s 2021 research projects. These cores were compared to eastern hemlock cores taken from hemlocks growing near the biological station (HBS) in a suspected old growth stand. The hope was to show that both the Carolina hemlock stand at Whitesides Mountain and the eastern hemlock stand in Highlands were part of forested areas that had escaped the mass logging of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unfortunately, the oldest Carolina hemlock core was dated to 1948, several years after the property had been logged before it was purchased by the U.S. Forest Service (HBS, 2021). It’s sobering to know that this small stand growing on a rocky outcrop at the top of a mountain did not escape the logging efforts of the 1940s. The Eastern hemlocks along the Coker Trail, in Highlands, NC, however, were dated back as far as 1559 (HBS, 2025), confirming the longevity of that suspected old growth stand. Our team was lucky enough to join the staff at HBS to treat these old growth eastern hemlocks along the Coker Trail, located both on HBS property and on the adjacent private properties that together encompass the old growth stand. We want to thank the HBS staff, including Dr. James (Jim) Costa, Executive Director, and Jason Love, Associate Director, for all their help treating the hemlocks on and around HBS. We want to give special thanks to HBS neighbor, Jim Chance, who generously donated half the cost of the project back to our program. The HBS staff, who volunteered their time and knowledge of the stand, were instrumental in our ability to treat this unique stand. In total, our crew, with help from volunteers and HBS staff, treated over 350 hemlocks on and surrounding the HBS, with over 100 of those growing in old growth forested areas. You can see how uniquely large these hemlocks are in the picture below, taken around the base of the oldest known living eastern hemlock in the Coker stand, which was dated by its core to be over 467 years old! (HBS, 2025) Liam Stiefel, who is one of the researchers at HBS that helped us with hemlock treatments, took a core from this awe-inspiring tree, in order to determine the tree’s age. He also converted the measurements taken from each ring in this core into unique pitches, which could be played as a song, representing the tree’s life. If you’d like to listen to this unique artistic interpretation of this tree’s life, please click here.

We also enjoyed protecting hemlocks at several campgrounds, ensuring that their hemlocks don’t decline and become a hazard to anyone taking shelter beneath their extensive canopies. Hemlocks are often found in and around campsites, as they provide protection from wind, rain and sun, and help regulate temperatures underneath their outstretched branches. At Van Hook Glade Campground and Cliffside Lake Recreation Area, in Highlands, NC, we hosted a volunteer workday with the help of FIND Outdoors in order to cover the almost 30 acres of forest with over 250 hemlocks growing throughout. We’d like to give special thanks to FIND Outdoors’ staff, who came out to join us in treating the hemlocks on the property. Working with their staff, we gained unique insight into these beautiful recreational areas, which are among those they have been managing, in partnership with the US Forest Service, for over 50 years. 

Interspersed between these multi-day overnight trips to our HCAs further abroad, we enjoyed treating hemlocks closer to our home base of Asheville, including sites within Green River Game Land, Sandy Mush Game Land, Chimney Rock State Park, Dupont State Recreational Forest, and one of its neighboring communities, Sherwood Forest. We were particularly excited to again be able to work in Pisgah National Forest, with most of its more than 510,000 acres now open to the public post T.S. Helene. 

During our colder winter months, we were able to use new funding we received from the state for work related to assessing, mitigating, & repairing damage to our hemlock stands caused by T. S.  Helene. It has allowed us to assess our stands more frequently, and scout them more thoroughly, than we ever have before. We are grateful for these funds, and are excited about what we will be able to accomplish using them going forward. So far, we have managed to assess over 2,000 acres, which is roughly 20% of the HCAs we manage on state and other non-federal properties.

As the weather warmed, our team turned their attention towards one of our favorite areas to work in: Stone Mountain State Park. This lovely State Park has over 14,000 acres of protected lands with hiking trails, rock climbing courses, horseback riding trails, campgrounds, and historic heritage sites. We hosted a volunteer day at the park, enabling us to cover more ground and treat over 625 hemlocks in only three days. The volunteers who helped us with these treatments included members of Friends of Stone Mountain State Park, several master naturalists, and some of our veteran volunteers, including Reno Mihalik, who you can learn more about in our Volunteer Spotlight. Reno and the other volunteers helped us treat hemlocks across the park, including the hemlocks that grow around Hutchinson Homestead, which is a restored mountain farm heritage site that was originally built in 1855 by John and Cidney Hutchinson. The homestead is now used for educational purposes. Visitors can be transported back in time while walking trails up to the property through forests kept cool by the hemlocks growing throughout. We are planning on hosting another volunteer treatment day at Stone Mountain State Park this upcoming fall. If you’re interested in visiting this beautiful park, and learning more about the work we do, please keep an eye out on our website, which will soon have more information about our upcoming volunteer opportunities.

With our work for the season in Stone Mountain finished, we took advantage of this season’s unusually dry spring to focus on some of our more ecologically sensitive bog sites, also owned and managed by NC Parks and Recreation. While water levels were low, we were able to more easily access these hemlock trees. For the treatments of these hemlocks, we turned to stem injection, which we had successfully incorporated as part of our treatment protocol last season in Panthertown Valley. Stem injection treatments take a lot more time than our usual treatment methods, and require much more intensive training to learn how to use. Luckily, our veteran Forestry Technicians are now familiar with this treatment technique, enabling us to use stem injection to treat hemlocks growing over or out of water, minimizing the risk of chemicals running off into the water. With this technique available to us, we were able to double the amount of hemlocks we could safely treat within the bog systems compared to our last round of treatments six years ago, when we had to rely solely on soil drench and basal bark spray treatment methods. 

Meanwhile, our NC Forest Service (NCFS) Forest Health partners, with the help of the BRIDGE program, focused their treatment efforts on a 1,500-acre tract of undeveloped forest land around Rendezvous Mountain, known as Little Fork State Forest. By focusing their efforts on just one forest system, they managed to treat almost 16,000 hemlocks this season! 

For the end of our season, we were excited to work in Joyce Kilmer Forest while the spring ephemerals were still in bloom. We were awed and amazed by the beautiful flowers thriving along the forest floor underneath the towering old growth poplars and oaks in Joyce Kilmer. Unfortunately, the old growth hemlocks in Joyce Kilmer died long ago, before treatments could be used to save them from hemlock woolly adelgid. Our treatments focused on new hemlock trees that are growing in the gaps left by their dead forebears. Seeing these trees grow into the canopy is heartening, and reminds us of the future importance of the smaller, young hemlocks we treat.

Our last treatment day of the season was also a first for us. This year, we were invited to participate in Pisgah Project Day, which was a unique opportunity set up by the Pisgah Conservancy. This massive volunteer event was attended by over 500 members of the public, volunteering with over 15 different North Carolina forest health and conservation agencies. This was our first time offering a project for this program, but we hope it will not be the last. Thanks to the Pisgah Conservancy’s organization and support, and the enthusiastic and determined volunteers who signed up for our project, we were able to treat an entire HCA on the Pisgah District of Pisgah National Forest in under 4 hours! Together, we treated around 160 hemlocks, across almost 40 acres of land.

In total, including hemlocks big and small, and with the help of our Forest Health partners, over 27,000 hemlock trees were treated across North Carolina this season! These treatments helped to protect over 3,300 acres of forested lands. We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done this season, and are looking forward to next season.

---

Hemlock Conservation Area Highlight: Bell Park

by Emma Proietti, HRI Forestry Technician and GIS Specialist

South of Hendersonville, at the tail of Lake Summit, and along Spartanburg Highway, is one of Henderson County’s newest hiking areas. Established in 2024, and already popular with local hikers, birders, and boaters, Bell Park features almost two miles of trails, passing through a rhododendron cove, pausing at a waterfall overlook, and continuing into an upland hardwood forest. Hemlocks of all sizes are interspersed throughout the park, lining the trails and reinforcing the steep slopes to the Green River, which flows out east toward the game land. 

The Green River begins in Cedar Mountain, near the Green River Preserve, arcing through former Cherokee and Catawba lands, modern-day Henderson and Polk counties, until it joins the Broad River south of Rutherfordton. The gorge it formed hosts forests of many types native to the Southern Appalachians, from rhododendron-filled acidic coves to rich coves full of spring ephemerals to drier montane cliffs. The elevation changes along the river also create fertile ground for rapids, attracting ambitious paddlers, casual tubers, and waterfall enthusiasts to various sections of the river. 

Frank Bell’s passion for the river began in 1908, when his family moved to Tuxedo, NC, a small town on the Green River at the head of Lake Summit. This dedication to the river and the surrounding landscape led him to become a renowned paddler who, with his wife, Calla, championed outdoor education for young people through the founding of summer camps on Lake Summit. The Bells remain notable in the region for passing on an enthusiasm for stewardship and outdoor learning to generations of people who continue to hold a special connection to this region. 

This commitment to protecting natural areas has led to many local residents entrusting their property to land conservancies through easements or discounted purchases. Conserving Carolina acquired a 69-acre parcel of land just beyond the Lake Summit dam in 2015 from private owners, with the intention of creating a park with Henderson County in honor of Frank and Calla Bell. Nine years later, that intention became a reality.

Bell Park has more than just hemlocks. When HRI’s AmeriCorps Project Conserve Naturalist and Stewardship Associate visited in the spring, she documented a rich biodiversity of plants, insects, animals, and birds. This even included a lot of cool mushrooms, including chanterelles, russulas, milk caps, and false caesars’. This teeming ecosystem quickly made it a popular place for nature enthusiasts to recreate.

Soon after Bell Park opened to the public, long-time Conserving Carolina member and friend of HRI, Keith Viglietta, was exploring the birding opportunities there and noticed that many of the trailside hemlocks were infested with hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). He had a hunch that treating the hemlocks at the park for HWA would be feasible and make for a great project. He encouraged HRI to visit the park to assess the trees’ health and contact Conserving Carolina to propose a plan to protect the hemlocks. Once we connected with Conserving Carolina and Henderson County it wasn’t very long before everything started falling into place to make the project possible. 

Because of the volunteer support HRI has had over the years in treating hemlocks throughout the Green River Gorge, from avid hikers and paddlers through the PHHAT program, Bell Park seemed like an appropriate place to commemorate a few of those volunteers who have made our work there possible. In April 2026, we gathered at the park to honor PHHAT founder Alex Harvey, PHHAT participants Greer Gunby and Christoph Berenotto, stalwart HRI volunteers Keith Viglietta and Susan Dillard, and Green Riverkeeper Erica Shanks for their long-term commitment to preserving the river and the hemlocks, and for their ongoing support of HRI’s mission. Then, along with project partners from Conserving Carolina and Henderson County, we treated 165 trees throughout the park – even the trees far down the slopes (thanks to those volunteers who were willing to crawl through rhododendron to get there). 

We are continually working on and around the Green River to preserve the hemlocks that remain after Helene, and are grateful to have added Bell Park to the natural areas keeping hemlocks healthy along the river. This is the first time we’ve dedicated a treatment project to a special group of hemlock heroes, but we hope and suspect that it may not be the last. If you know of a public area that contains hemlock trees in need of treatment, please let us know.

---

New hemlock management strategy benefits pollinator populations

by Olivia Hall, HRI Educational Outreach Manager

As a foundation species, hemlocks support entire ecosystems. If you’re familiar with our work, you’ve probably heard us talk about the species and habitats that we are working to protect beyond the individual trees themselves, including trout, hellbenders, birds, and salamanders, to name a few. In these instances, these organisms are directly benefiting from the healthy hemlocks, but we rarely have the chance to discuss other species that might benefit from the management strategy being implemented to support hemlock health. Now we can, thanks to a new management method on the scene. Enter canopy gaps- sections of forests that have been opened up to increase sunlight exposure.

Silviculture strategies (think: forest architecture) are a relatively recent development in the hemlock integrated pest management (IPM) tool kit. Earlier studies, in-part led by Dr. Bud Mayfield (Mayfield et al., 2023) show that HWA-infested hemlocks respond positively to increased sunlight exposure by putting on more new growth fast enough to better make up for the needle loss induced by HWA. It’s a promising new piece of information that adds to a larger hemlock management strategy picture. However, it appears that these canopy gaps aren’t just beneficial to our hemlocks- indeed, other species, such as bees, benefit from them too, making this a potential ‘two-for-one’ forest management strategy. 

Scores of past research show that pollinator populations benefit from the increase of flowering plants that grow on the forest floor after a canopy opens up (Mullally et al., 2019; Roberts et al., 2017; Hanula et al., 2015; Proctor et al., 2012). However, Dr. Mayfield was not sure if the relatively small canopy gap created for hemlock management would be enough to detect a difference in pollinator populations. If it were, as he aptly said, “…it would mean that there was a potential dual benefit to releasing hemlocks using small canopy gaps: better hemlock resilience and more pollinators.” 

Dr. Mayfield and his colleagues decided it was worth a look. Two measurements were monitored: bee abundance and bee richness. Bee abundance was a simple count of the number of individual bees in the sites, regardless of species. Bee richness was a more technical count of the number of bee species found in the sites. Across the board, both bee abundance and bee richness increased at the sites with the hemlock silviculture gap treatment! So, why do these bees like the gaps as much as our hemlocks? The easy answer is that the increase in sunlight allows bee food (flowering, herbaceous plants) to thrive. However, it also gives ground-nesting bees more real estate, and when these gaps are created, trees are felled, leaving fallen, dead wood for habitat and nesting.

Hemlocks and bees are just two of the many species groups that these canopy gaps likely benefit. Unfortunately, one big group is non-native invasive plants. Many of our native species that we are aiming to protect may suffer if the invasive plants that rapidly grow and spread under direct light are not controlled in some way. Regardless, it is a happy circumstance that one management strategy may benefit two important and beloved species in our Southern Appalachian mixed-wood forests and bodes well for the future of both.

---

hRI naturalist’s Column: Hemlock Stands After Wildfire

by Sarah Gelleny, HRI AmeriCorps Project Conserve Naturalist and Stewardship Coordinator

Sarah Gelleny is HRI’s ’25-’26 AmeriCorps Project Conserve (ACPC) Naturalist and Stewardship Associate, for which she conducted hemlock treatments, documented ecological observations and information, and expanded our creative outputs. She focused on hemlock relationships to organisms beyond the hemlock woolly adelgid and how these relationships impact our work. She comes from a background in ecological art, starting in the realm of environmental connection in urban spaces. The past two years she has shifted into looking at art ecology, specifically in the Southern Appalachian region where she is from.

This June, our crew returned to two hemlock conservation areas that were recently impacted by wildfires: Big Bradley Falls and a site we call “Green River Cove Road #5”. The Black Cove Fire and Deep Woods Fires roared through the Saluda area in March of 2025, collectively burning over 5,000 acres of land. Both of these fires began at similar times and eventually overlapped, causing extreme internal heat. For HRI, this is new territory. Eastern hemlocks are known for being one of the most fire sensitive tree species in eastern forests. Their thin bark, soft wood, shallow roots, low branches, and thick layers of needles on the forest floor make them particularly vulnerable when fire moves through a stand. While research gives us a foundation for understanding these impacts, every wildfire burns differently, and every forest responds differently.

Before heading into the field, our crew met with forest managers and fire specialists to better understand what to document, including burn collars, char height, crown condition, and other indicators that may help us follow these trees over the coming years. HRI Field Crew Leader Alicia Walsh, GIS Specialist and Field Technician Emma Proietti, and I then spent the day collecting those observations across both sites. At Big Bradley Falls, Alicia and Emma monitored our established impact plot while I crossed the creek to Little Bradley Falls to survey the flora and fauna in an area the fire had largely missed. The contrast was immediate.

Little Bradley still felt like a Southern Appalachian cove forest in early summer. Birds called from the canopy, wildflowers were blooming, and every few steps revealed something new. During my survey I recorded twenty seven species of interest, including several species closely associated with mature hemlock forests, like the migratory summer Acadian Flycatcher. The forest on this side of the creek invited curiosity. 

Big Bradley told a different story. This was our third visit since the fire, but nearly a year later, many questions remain. Some hemlocks were producing new growth while others were not. Alicia and Emma listed off the many invasives growing in the stand and the tree mortality they saw, but could not recall any fluttering migratory birds or other signs of vibrancy. 

Later that day, we headed as a team to Green River Cove Road #5. The first thing I noticed once inside the stand was not the blackened bark, though that was present, too: it was how brown the forest appeared. In June, Southern Appalachian forests bordering a river are usually overwhelmingly green. From the road, that is exactly what this site looked like: a wall of rhododendron and hardwood canopy. But stepping farther into the stand, behind that green edge, were scorched trunks, dry leaf litter, shallow creekbeds running lower than expected during an ongoing drought, and scattered signs of human activity.

Life was still there. Birds moved high through the canopy, spiders had webs between branches, and gnats filled humid air. Fire is a natural disturbance, and many species are quick to recolonize recently burned landscapes. This was shown in the early successional species that were present in the forest like fraser magnolia, and tulip poplar saplings along with fire-resistant rhododendron that’s been able to spread into dense thickets. Still, after spending several hours walking through the entire stand, the forest felt noticeably quieter than at Little Bradley. Places that seemed otherwise well-suited for salamanders, reptiles, and other moisture-dependent wildlife, felt unusually empty. These fires were exceptionally hot, which is also impacting regrowth and the abilities of more resistant species like rhododendron to support the forest in the interim. 

While Alicia and Emma continued monitoring the hemlocks, I documented invasive plants and recorded observations of the broader ecosystem. I spent nearly half an hour sitting on a dry rock surrounded by decaying logs, simply listening. A Northern Parula sang somewhere upslope. A few fungi pushed through the leaf litter. A little brown jug, crane fly orchids, and woodland violets were finishing their season, but the stillness lingered.

Earlier that morning, it had been difficult to pull myself away from the Little Bradley Falls area because there was always another bird or another plant to identify. Here along Green River Cove Road, over roughly two and a half hours, I recorded seventeen species of interest, compared to twenty seven at Little Bradley. That difference alone can’t tell us how wildfire has affected biodiversity. Weather, drought, habitat differences, and seasonal timing all influence what can be observed on a single day. Instead, these observations become one snapshot in a much larger story that HRI will continue documenting as these forests recover.

Fire is becoming an increasingly important part of forest management conversations across the Southern Appalachians. As our climate changes and disturbances become more frequent, understanding how hemlock forests respond will help guide future conservation efforts. Fire recovery unfolds over years, not months, and our continued monitoring will help us better understand how these trees respond over time.  One visit cannot tell us what the future holds for these trees, but it does give us a place to begin asking better questions as we continue to regularly monitor these stands to make better treatment decisions. Sometimes restoration starts not with answers, but with returning to the same place year after year and paying close enough attention to notice what has changed, and what has endured.

---

Volunteer Spotlight: Stephen “Reno” Mihalik

by Sarah Gelleny, HRI AmeriCorps Project Conserve Naturalist and Stewardship Associate

The Hemlock Restoration Initiative could not do what we do without the help of our hard-working volunteers. Each newsletter we like to highlight the contributions of our volunteers. In this issue we would like to recognize Stephen “Reno” Mihalik. We would like to dually designate this piece as our Conservation Connection Corner. This section of our newsletter features the work of people in our region who have gone above and beyond to conserve hemlocks in their own communities. They are often people who have taken initiative to address the HWA problem on their own, without having received direct prompting from HRI. Reno matches both of these descriptions.

When Reno moved to the Asheville area from Arizona in 2020, he quickly noticed the unusual amount of evergreen mortality in the area. Dead and dying hemlocks lined roadsides and hillsides throughout the mountains. Having grown up in Arizona, where high-elevation conifer forests held a special place in his heart, seeing these beautiful trees in decline left him wondering what was happening and if there was anything he could do to help. That search eventually led him to HRI. Since finding us through our website, Reno has become one of our most dedicated volunteers. If you’ve been to a treatment day over the past couple years, there’s a good chance you’ve worked alongside him. Whether he’s hiking up steep slopes or crossing a creek, all while carrying treatment gear, Reno is always eager to lend a hand and tell stories. When asked what has been most rewarding about volunteering, his answer wasn’t just about the trees. “There are so many rewarding aspects,” Reno said, including “…the camaraderie of the HRI team and other volunteers, and feeling I’m doing something meaningful with my time now that I’m retired.”

Reno’s involvement with his community and dedication to teamwork has been a lifelong endeavor. His enjoyment in this kind of work stems from the fact that it makes him feel like the “kid again that always loved being in the forest.” “It’s been since I was in the U.S. Air Force that I’ve enjoyed being part of a team so much,” he shared. 

One of Reno’s favorite memories with HRI came when he was invited to join staff on treatment projects beyond our regular volunteer workdays. “I felt really good when the HRI team started to call me for treatment jobs,” he said. “Those outings were really intense but very cool. It’s a privilege to work side by side with them.”

For Reno, protecting hemlocks doesn’t stop when the volunteer day ends. After learning more about hemlock conservation, he started protecting the trees in his own community. What began in 2020 as a personal effort, treating around 60 hemlocks, has since grown into a community-wide conservation program. With support from his neighbors, Reno has helped survey, map, and track treatments for more than 260 mature hemlocks, with plans to expand this to over 300 trees across the property. He’s also planted roughly 140 hemlock seedlings over the past two years, giving the next generation of forest a chance to take root. Today, his community proudly displays a “HRI Hemlock Conservation Area” sign, a testament to what one person’s curiosity and dedication can grow into.

When asked what keeps him coming back into hemlock stands, Reno’s answer is simple: “I look forward to seeing healthy trees and seedlings,” he said, “but the best thing for me is the feeling when walking out[side], knowing every tree we treated [has been] saved for at least a few more years.” That perspective captures what volunteering with HRI is all about. Every treatment day, every seedling planted, and every tree protected gives these forests more time. Reno’s passion for hemlocks has made a lasting impact, not only through the countless hours he’s volunteered with HRI, but through the hundreds of trees now being protected in his own community. We’re incredibly grateful for everything he has done for HRI, for our forests, and for the people around him who have been inspired to care for these remarkable trees alongside him.

For anyone thinking about joining a volunteer day, Reno has one piece of advice: “Don’t wait to get involved. There are many interesting and fun activities that can fit your interests and desired level of effort. You’ll learn a lot, perform some rewarding work, and have some fun with a great team.”

---

• 
  HRI's Lingering Hemlock Project Outreach Coordinator, Olivia Hall, leads a webinar for The Wildlife Society. 
• 
  HRI staff teaching Warren Wilson College students hemlock treatment methods.
• 
  HRI teaches members of Connesstee Falls (near Brevard, NC) hemlock treatment methods.
• 
  HRI staff and volunteers after a hemlock treatment volunteer workday in Pisgah National Forest. 
• 
  HRI leads an HWA Management Workshop for landowners and forestry professionals at Highlands Biological Station.
• 
  HRI staff, volunteers, and partners at Bell Park in Hendersonville, NC, before a hemlock treatment workday.
• 
  HRI 2025-2026 team at WNC Communities' 75th Anniversary Luncheon. From left to right: Jack Carr, Sarah Gelleny, Alicia Walsh, Emma Proietti, Olivia Hall, Margot Wallston, Ben Bowers. Not pictured: Andrew Cobb.
• 
  HRI staff and volunteers after treating hemlocks for the annual Pisgah Project Day. 
• 
  HRI Forestry Technician GIS Specialist Emma Proietti demonstrating stem injection treatment methods to NC State Park staff. 

---

Upcoming Events

Saturday, September 19th: Hemlocks and Old Growth Trees hike at Highlands Biological Station

Tuesday, October 13th: Hemlock Treatment Demonstration at Asheville Botanical Garden

Saturday, October 17th: DuPont Forest Festival

Saturday, October 17th: Hemlock Treatment Volunteer Workday in Pisgah National Forest

Saturday, October 24th: Hemlock Treatment Volunteer Workday at Grandfather Mountain State Park

Monday, November 9th: HWA Management Workshop at Carolina Hemlocks Campground

Learn more about these events on our Events Page.

---

Back to Top