I’m fortunate to live within about 30 minutes from two National Park Service units and have often visited each for hikes and “forest therapy”. Recently, the staff at both sites requested assistance with surveys of the trees in their Hemlock groves and I jumped at the chance to help. Most of the east coast has been experiencing an infestation of an insect called the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) and some have been seen in nearby counties. In preparation, I had to complete a lot of forms and some training but the required effort was rewarded with two days of wonderful weather! On the first (today), I departed my condo in the middle of my telework day (0840), drove to Woodstock (VT) and joined a team that surveyed three Hemlock groves inside Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. This latter step was complicated by construction delays in Quechee so I wasn't at the trailhead (at the Billings Farm parking lot) when the main group departed (0900). Fortunately, I managed to catch them (three staff from the park and eight volunteers) by 0915 by practically running up the forest road that departs from the park entrance. Steve was our leader and he took us on a nearly four mile walk through the woods so we could cover the various Hemlock groves that needed to be surveyed. The weather was quite nice but a lot of bushwhacking was required to reach the two different stands of trees. This was my first time surveying so Steve gave me a tutorial - after that, the inspection of needles/leaves was an easy process. At the first location, I checked 20 sprigs/twigs on the ground, looking for HWA but didn't find any. At the second stand of Hemlocks, I spent most of my time looking at the branches of six different trees because there were very few sprigs/twigs) on six trees. Again (fortunately), we didn’t find any HWA. At that point, we were wrapping up our day and I asked to be excused in order to return home (to finish my work day). Steve thanked me and I headed towards my car via a more direct line than he'd planned. left the group early so I could go back to work. Departing Woodstock by 1155, I drove home and resumed teleworking. What an interesting volunteer project!
