Friday, October 20th and Thursday, November 16th 2017: Volunteer Workday with the Forest Restoration Alliance:
These two workdays will be different! Instead of chemically treating hemlock trees, volunteers will be combating hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) by supporting the work of the Forest Restoration Alliance (FRA) at their research facility in Waynesville where they are working on breeding HWA resistant hemlock trees.
The FRA is a group of researchers from government organizations and academic institutions–led by NC State University’s Dr. Fred Hain, who conduct a selective breeding program, modeled on the success of the American Chestnut Foundation, and aimed at breeding and establishing a future of resistant trees in North American forests.
Volunteers will work in and around their greenhouses to help with their selective breeding program, which may include repotting trees, planting trees, helping prepare their new indoor facility, and general work maintaining the greenhouses. Volunteers will also get a tour of the facility by researcher Ben Smith and learn about their efforts to restore hemlocks.
There will be two separate workdays, Friday, October 20th and Saturday, November 16th. If you would like to volunteer, please RSVP by 10/13 for the October day and 11/10 for the November day to volunteer@savehemlocksnc.org. Please include the number of volunteers coming and a morning-of contact number.
More information about FRA can be found on their website: http://threatenedforests.com