Some of the News stories that we have featured are archived here. They are being kept to give a sense of how various issues have evolved and been resolved.
| 1999 Our First Efforts | 2000 | 2001 Release of Ladybugs |
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| 2005 We may be winning! | 2006 | 2007 |
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| 2020 | 2021 | |
No news on the Hemlocks
2016 Saving the Hemlock Trees Project
Through the efforts of Bob Burke, a plan was made to treat the hemlock trees in the Reservation with an insecticide on Arbor Day, April 29. Jason Lupien of Lupient Tree Service was organizing the program to prvovide the labor at no cost, if the Friends could purchase the insecticide. See the minutes of our April, 2016 meeting (click here ).
Unexpectedly, the DCR announced that they had decided to undertake the treatment at no cost to the Friends. Ken Gooch of DCR and two USDA staff did in fact treat the trees on May 23. Brian was there to observe during the morning. He reports that they did dozens of trees from the pathway to the overlook to Echo Bridge, including some of the very tall ones near the bridge that look pretty sickly. If the treatment works, the results should be spectacular. They said they were going to spend the rest of the day treating trees and that they had plenty of supplies.
Arborist Ken Gooch of the DCR was at our June meeting to update us on the treatment of the hemlocks. At the moment the trees are in greater peril from the elongated hemlock scale than the adelgids. Lisa Barstow of the DCR updated us on the fence project, and Marti Rudi, also of the DCR, updated us on the stone building shingles. For more details read the minutes of our VERY informative June, 2016 meeting; to do so click here.
No breaking news stories this year.
No breaking news stories this year.
No breaking news stories this year.
No breaking news stories this year.
Some members of the Friends who visited the Arnold Arboretum this spring we surprised to see Hemlock Hill still populated with healthy appearing tall trees free of adelgids. It was particularly surprising because the Arboretum, unlike the Friends, had decided to take no steps to arrest the infestation of the adelgids. Bob Burke made additional inquiry for us, and here is his report:
"I finally heard back from the folks at Arnold Arboretum. Two people actually got back to me and their stories were identical and not particularly hopeful. They concured that the Wooly Adelgid infestation seems to have been halted or at least arrested over the past two years, but they attribute this almost entirely to the very cold, icy winters we have been experiencing. This has killed off a very significant part of the population. Unfortunately, they do not expect this to continue if future winters return to anything like normal. They have decided not to try and control the problem with any type of chemical substances because it is very expensive and the results would be very uncertain."
Insect Alert, July 2010
The Asian Longhorned Beetle has been found in Boston.
Click here to read a message
from the state, and a link to a Boston.com article. Here is the gist
of the news.
In July a
small infestation of Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) was found in
Jamaica Plain (Boston). The site is at Faulkner Hospital, just across
from the Arnold Arboretum. Six infested maple trees were found so far,
in close proximity to each other, and have already been removed by
USDA/DCR. Surveys will continue this week.
It is important to get the word out to be on the lookout for:
Anyone seeing anything suspicious should report it immediately at http://massnrc.org/pests/albreport.aspx or by calling toll-free: 1-866-702-9938. Take photos if you can.
We can provide you with free ID cards, fact sheets, etc. Just contact Jen Forman Orth ([email protected]; 617-626-1735). We have obtained some of these and distribute them at our summer picnic (see below).
Spread the word, not the beetle! Get all the latest ALB news at: http://massnrc.org/pests/alb
http://www.americanforests.org/forestbytes/fb_march08a/forestbytes_mar08_inside.html#hemlock
Hope springs eternal. The Boston Globe carried an article on November 16 describing a new method of biological attack on the adelgid, the Laricobius nigrinus beetle. To read the story click here.
An informal and unscientific survey by several members of the Friends walking through the park recently suggests that about a third of the trees are now dead and another third show signs of severe disease. There was no sign of ladybugs, nor has there been for years.
The issue of Science Daily accessible by the following link (it can also be reached via the current issue of American Forest) has a new story about the impending doom of the hemlocks in the lower Appalachian region and its dire consequences for the surrounding eco-systems, and further links to older stories about anti-hemlock fungi and the Japanese Beetles that we have used at Hemlock Gorge. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090226122730.htm
DCR Forester Charlie Burnham visited Hemlock Gorge in November, 2008. Here are his two reports to the Friends:
I went to the gorge to evaluate it as a possible release site for a different predatory beetle, Laricobius nigrinus. I noticed that the hemlocks were in two very different states of health which I can’t explain. Some of the trees have full crowns and a nice green foliage color, exactly what a hemlock is suppose to look like. Other trees have a thinning crown; and are kind of off color. These two different states of tree health are in some cases right next to each other which would rule out site or environmental factors. As for the adelgid the populations are extremely low at least on the braches I could reach so the site did not meet the needs of the new predator program. One other thing I notice is that there is an increase in the population of elongate hemlock scale which can cause tree decline and mortality especially when coupled with another stress factor like adelgid, drought, or soil compaction.
I would like to think the ladybugs are still present at the Gorge and for the past several years intended to do some sampling, but other things seem to be higher on the priority list, maybe next spring or summer.
The
other predator is native to the Pacific Northwest, some of the insects
we had available were collected in Washington and Idaho.
Virginia Tech is doing some lab rearing also. We haven’t given
up on the ladybugs but we just don’t want to have all our eggs in one
basket.
As for the Asian Longhorned beetle given the fact that it has been in
Worcester for 7 plus years I suspect it has been spread through the
movement of infested wood without anyone knowing it but I hope for the
sake of the New England forests it is contained in Worcester.
Charlie
The Friends had news on May 12, 2008 from State Forester Charlie Burnham in regard to the Hemlock Woolly Adelgids and our release of ladybugs. Here is what he wrote:
"I haven’t been there to look for beetles in a couple of years, but this past winter some of them showed up an another location where we hadn’t been able to find them since the release. This caused an increase in interest on recovery, so this summer we are going back to all the release sites to see if they got established. I have been in contact with Erica Uramkin and she want to come along when I do the looking. Right now it looks like this will be in June. I’ll let you know what I find.
Charlie"
The Friends had news on May 12 from State Forester Charlie Burnham in regard to the Hemlock Woolly Adelgids (see our Adelgid News Stories Archive) and our release of ladybugs. Here is what he wrote:
"I haven’t been there to look for beetles in a couple of years, but this past winter some of them showed up an another location where we hadn’t been able to find them since the release. This caused an increase in interest on recovery, so this summer we are going back to all the release sites to see if they got established. I have been in contact with Erica Uramkin and she want to come along when I do the looking. Right now it looks like this will be in June. I’ll let you know what I find.
Charlie"
***
Also: on June 10, 2007 The Boston Sunday Globe published an informative update on the woolly adelgid in New England, emphasizing the role global warming may play in the problem. Click here to go to the Globe article online at Boston.com. See below in our "Adelgid News" section for links to other articles. A July 17 story in the Newton Tab noted that the warm 2006-2007 winter (global warming?) has made the adelgid infestation this summer a particularly bad one.
There was relatively little adelgid news to share in 2006. Forester Charlie Burnham was unable to get to the Reservation to make a study. At our cleanups we did observe that there are many hemlocks still standing, and many seemed largely free of adelgids on the lower branches we could inspect. However, quite a few trees are stressed and a number are dead. You can see some documentation by clicking here to look at the pictures taken during the 2006 cleanups.
Report on the Adelgids and Ladybugs in Hemlock Gorge Forester Charlie Burnham, December 6, 2005
Final Report
Pseudoscymnus tsugae Release
Hemlock Gorge 2001-2005
Background:
The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) (formerly the Department of Environmental Management) was approached by the Friends of Hemlock Gorge regarding the possible release of the predatory ladybird beetle (Pseudoscymnus tusgae) for the control of an infestation of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) (Adelges tsugae) at the Hemlock Gorge in Newton. A site visit was conducted with the USDA Forest Service to determine if the site met the federal release criteria. It was determined that the site did not meet these criteria because of extremely high HWA populations. Through the efforts of The Friends of Hemlock Gorge a $60,000 earmark was included in the Metropolitan District Commission’s (MDC) state budget to purchase the predatory beetles. This money was transferred to the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s budget because the MDC lacked the necessary resources to release and monitor the beetle release. Three releases were conducted in 2001 and 2002 as indicated in the chart below.
|
Release Date |
Quantity |
Source |
|
May 2, 2001 |
5000 Adult |
NJ Dept of Agriculture |
|
June 6, 2001 |
5000 Adult and Larvae |
Ecoscientific Solutions |
|
May 16, 2002 |
5011 Adult |
Ecoscientific Solutions |
|
Total 15,011 |
||
Click here to see the photo album of the release.
The DCR determined that the most efficient way to monitor these release was to follow the federal guidelines even though no federal money was involved in the release.
The results of three years of monitoring are presented below.
|
Date |
HWA Density |
Hemlock Health |
No. Adults |
No. Larvae |
|
June 6, 2001 |
High |
Fair |
15 |
0 |
|
July 25, 2001 |
High |
Fair |
23 |
1 |
|
August 16, 2001 |
High |
Fair |
30 Plus |
0 |
|
Sept. 18, 2001 |
High |
Fair |
1 |
0 |
|
May 17, 2002 |
High |
Fair |
3 |
2 |
|
June 27, 2002 |
High |
Fair |
12 |
1 |
|
July 25, 2002 |
High |
Fair |
7 |
0 |
|
August 23, 2002 |
High |
Fair |
4 |
0 |
|
June 27, 2003 |
Light |
Fair |
0 |
0 |
|
July 31, 2003 |
Light |
Fair |
0 |
0 |
|
August 14, 2003 |
Light |
Fair |
0 |
0 |
|
June 17, 2004 |
Light |
Good |
0 |
0 |
|
Sept.21, 2004 |
Light |
Good |
0 |
0 |
|
Sept 28, 2005 |
Light |
Good |
0 |
0 |
Conclusion:
The predatory ladybird beetle Pseudoscymnus tsugae in considered to be established at the Hemlock Gorge in Newton. This conclusion was reached because the beetles were recovered in the year following a release and immature beetles were also collected, which indicates the presence of a breeding population. Several adults were collected 75 feet from the original release site. I firmly believe the beetles are still present at the Hemlock Gorge ,but because of the reduction of the HWA population the beetles were forced to disperse greatly in search of food. The other factor that has hindered our ability to locate them is the fact that there are a limited number of live hemlock branches reachable from the ground to sample.
The health of the hemlocks appears to be improving as indicated by an improvement in the color of the foliage and the presence of new growth. A combination of several factors is responsible for this improvement:
During this past fall I spent considerable time at the Gorge attempting to recover beetles. These efforts were not productive. I am however convinced that the beetles are still present. I also noted that many of the trees were producing new growth and that on some of this new growth immature HWA was observed.
I will continue to make yearly visits to the Gorge of observe the condition of the hemlocks and hopefully recover the predatory ladybird beetles.
Charlie Burnham
State of Infestation (November 8, 2005)
On November 8, 2005 state forester Charlie Burnham contacted the Friends and made the following report:
"I was at the Gorge last week and will write up a summary of what I was and have it to you sometime next week.
Overall things look good but I have noticed the start of a hemlock woolly adelgid buildup. I couldn't locate any ladybugs, that is what we are seeing across the state we believe because of the drop in adelgid populations the beetles have to disperse greatly to find food."
The Newton Tab declares the Adelgid Vanquished! (2005)
| In early April, 2005 the Newton Tab wrote a nice article describing the efforts being made at Hemlock Gorge to thwart the adelgid. Site Supervisor Kevin Hollenbeck was featured. To see the article, click on the two images |
 Page 1 |
|
Page2 |
|
The Arnold Arboretum's Response to the Adelgid (Winter 2005)
The Arnold Arboretum's famed Hemlock Hill has been severely impacted by the adelgid, and more than 100 trees have been lost. (They opted against an attempt to introduce ladybugs, as was done at Hemlock Gorge.) The Arboretum staff are undertaking an extensive research program that is described in some detail at their web site: http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/plants/hemlock_hill.html
Adelgid News (January 2004): A lot of uncertainty
In January we received the following report from Forester Charlie Burnham. The trees in the Gorge seemed to him to be in better shape, but he could not determine if the cold weather or the ladybugs are responsible. This is his report:
“I was down at the Gorge in mid December to install a temperature recorder that we use to monitor winter mortality in the adelgid population as to see if any of the beetles are killed by the cold. I give the hemlocks a quick look and I think they look a little better than in the past. I can't give the credit for this to the beetles but believe it is more a result of high adelgid mortality last winter as well as an increased amount of moisture this past growing season.”
Hopeful News (August 2002): The Ladybugs may be having an effect:
It's been more than a year since the
release of the first ladybugs. We still don't have an
official opinion from forester Charlie Burnham on their
impact. but at the August picnic, we all toured the site
and inspected the hemlocks. What we saw made us
cautiously optimistic. Although several trees have died,
and evidence of the woolly adelgid infestation is
everywhere, the intensity of the infestation seems
diminished. Most hopeful was the new growth we say on
many hemlocks. Even damaged branches seemed to have tufts
of pale green new leaves. The new growth is a prime
target of the adelgid, and seeing in survive into August
is a good sign. We'll post more news as it comes in. The picture shows a
ladybug (Pseudoscymus tsugae) feeding on adelgid ovisacs - which
is what we hope is taking place everywhere in Hemlock Gorge.
Ladybug Release in June, 2001:
A second lot of ladybugs was released into Hemlock Gorge Reservation in mid-June, completing the planned release of 10,000 adelgid predators funded by the state legislature last year. We will keep everyone apprised of the state of the trees. Forester Charles Burnham expects to have an assessment of the effect of the ladybug release by spring, 2002.
Ladybug Release on May 2, 2001:
The long struggle to save the trees in Hemlock Gorge reached a turning point at 2:30 on Wednesday, May 2, 2001. At that time Massachusetts state forester Charlie Burnham and site supervisor Kevin Hollenbeck released the first of 10,000 ladybugs grown during the winter to combat the Woolly Adelgid. The insects, black, tiny, but seemingly full of energy, were grown for us in New Jersey. They were gently released with the aid of artists' brushes into the lower branches of a large adelgid-infested tree on the Needham side of the reservation, opposite the Devil's Den. The event was covered by WBZ news, whose report and interview with Site Supervisor Kevin Hollenbeck, was broadcast on the Channel 4 evening news. The broadcast has been taped and we hope to replay it at a future meeting. More ladybugs will be released in the reservation in the near future. Here are some pictures of the event.
| General overview of the release on the Needham side of the Reservation. Forester Burnham in green and Site Supervisor Kevin Hollenbeck at the extreme left are releasing the insects. The WBZ cameraman is in the center. |  |
| Forester Charlie Burnham applying the insects to an infested hemlock tree with an artist's brush. |  |
| Friends' President Alderman Brian Yates congratulates Charlie Burnham on this long anticipated occasion. |  |
Mr. Burnham reported that there have been excellent results using these ladybugs, formally called Pseudocamnys tsugae, in more southerly states, and he is cautiously optimistic about the outcome for Hemlock Gorge. He will be returning to the reservation later this spring to quantify the level of adelgid infestation on several tree branches. Comparison of this level with the level of infestation on these same branches a year from now will give us a good idea as to how well our project is succeeding.
This release will be the culmination of years of environmental and legislative struggle to try to save the trees in Hemlock Gorge. The Friends worked extraordinarily hard and well with Sen. Creem, Rep. Khan, the DCR and many others to bring this about, and Friends' President Brian Yates, who was present at the release, extends his thanks to all who helped in this effort.
Adelgid Good News Flash, April 30, 2001:
Hemlock Gorge site supervisor Kevin Hollenbeck has just announced that the ladybugs grown during the winter to combat the Woolly Adelgid will be released in the reservation during the afternoon of Wednesday, May 2.
A more exact time has not been announced, but may be obtained at the Friends' regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 1 or by calling Kevin's office at 617-698-1802.
Anyone who might be free is invited to be present. We will try to arrange for the event to be photographed and for coverage in the newspapers.
This release will be the culmination of years of environmental and legislative struggle to try to save the trees in Hemlock Gorge. The Friends worked extraordinarily hard and well with Sen. Creem, Rep. Khan, the MDC and many others to bring this about. Even if you cannot be present, we hope that you will share our pleasure in having at long last reached this much desired goal.
*******************************************************
The Boston Globe ran a nice article on the efforts of the Friends to combat the woolly adelgid. The online version is no longer available.
REGION
Wild woolly adelgids attack hemlock trees
By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent, 3/18/2001
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/077/west/Wild_woolly_adelgids_attack_hemlock_trees+.shtml
This story ran on page 1 of The Boston Globe's
Globe West section on 3/18/2001.
\A9 Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
*******************************************************
Adelgid Update, March,
2001: We have been informed by
Charlie Burnham that the adelgids slated for release in Hemlock
Gorge are being grown in a laboratory in Pennsylvania and that
all is going well. Their release is slated for late spring. We'll
keep you posted. It is likely that the release date will come
with little advance notice, so if you think you might like to
attend, send us you email address and we will notify you.
\
Adelgid Update,
December, 2000: On November 9,
2000, the Metropolitan District Commission voted to approve an
interagency Service Agreement with the Department of
Environmental Management to grow the ladybugs that are the
natural predators of the hemlock woolly adelgids that killing the
reservation. Doctor Charles Burnham of DEM has made arrangements
for to grow up a stock of ladybugs in a laboratory on the Cape.
In late spring or early summer of 2001, about 10,000 ladybugs
should be released in the Gorge to begin to bring the woolly
adelgids under control. This exciting development is the result
of the leadership of local legislators including Senator Cynthia
Creem, who brought Senate President Thomas Birmingham to visit
the Gorge in 1999, and Representative Kay Khan who organized the
veto override in the House that approved the $60,000 needed for
this program. We also appreciate the cooperation of MDC
Commissioner David Balfour and his associate Bernadette
O’Malley in approving this item and making the agreement
with DEM.
We also hope soon to receive a videotape of hearings held by
State Senator Stephen Brewer last fall in Gardner, MA at which
the state forestry service presented data that the alelgid may
indeed be safely controlled by the ladybugs we plan to introduce
in the Gorge.
*******************************************************
*******************************************************
JAPANESE LADYBUGS FLY TO THE RESCUE OF BELEAGUERED HEMLOCK FORESTS
September 12, 2000 -- Reprinted with the permission of the author.
By Elisabeth J. Beardsley
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE, www.statehousenews.com
[email protected]
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, SEPT. 12, 2000
The Bay State's official bug could soon wing to the rescue of one of the state's favorite native trees.
Under a $60,000 pilot program included in this year's budget, an army of Japanese ladybugs 10,000 strong will be brought to bear on the woolly adelgid, a nasty little insect that's killing hemlock trees in this state and others along the East Coast.
The sap-sucking Asian aphids were introduced into North America in the 1920s, and have slowly been spreading northward. The woollies have ravaged Connecticut forests for years, and turned up in Massachusetts after being blown across Long Island Sound on the winds of a hurricane five years ago.
The pilot project will begin in Hemlock Gorge in Newton Upper Falls, an area particularly beset. Sen. Cynthia Creem (D-Newton) helped secure the money for the ladybugs, which are natural predators of the aphids, after taking Senate President Thomas Birmingham to the gorge to see the damage.
"You can see that the trees are dying, that the leaves don't look good. You can see where they've changed color," Creem said, adding that the 23-acre reservation is "gorgeous" and "means a lot to a group of people."
In addition to the threat to the forest, Creem said local officials are being whacked with the cost of removing dead trees. Brookline spent $10,000 last year removing dead hemlocks from the gorge, she said.
Newton Alderman-at-Large Brian Yates, president and founder of Friends of Hemlock Gorge, said pesticides can be sprayed or injected into trees' root balls, but it's a temporary solution that can't be used near water or on very large trees. Chemicals can be effective for a small number of trees, such as in a yard, but the risk of re-infection makes pesticides impractical for forests, Yates said.
The Friends of Hemlock Gorge hit upon the ladybug idea after a Connecticut researcher traveled to the adelgid's native Japan in 1992 to find out why the hemlocks there were healthy, Yates said. He discovered that a poppy-seed-sized black ladybug, previously unknown, was keeping the adelgid population under control by eating the aphids' egg sacs, which look like strings of fluffy little white balls.
The Japanese hemlocks "never got to such a stage that they would be vulnerable to dying because there were natural predators there," Yates said. "In Japan, they're in perpetual balance. We're trying to establish the balance."
After two years of research, the US Department of Agriculture issued a permit for the introduction of the ladybugs. Since 1995, 18,000 of them have been released into six hemlock forests in Connecticut and one in Virginia, reducing the adelgid populations by between 47 and 100 percent.
Sen. Stephen Brewer (D-Barre), whose district is also suffering an aphid infestation, has called a hearing on the menace this Thursday before his Special Commission on Forest Management Practices. With the virtual extinction of the American elm in mind, Brewer said, environmental managers must act now to stop the bugs' northward march. They have already reached the Vermont and New Hampshire borders.
"They don't pay any attention to political boundaries. Nature has its own agenda," Brewer said. "They go into other areas and will upset the economy and strike an aesthetic blow to our environment."
Hemlock fans are anxious to get the ladybug breeding project underway, hoping to release them into Hemlock Gorge next spring, Yates said. But the Metropolitan District Commission, which oversees project funding, has not yet chosen a breeder, he said.
MDC spokesman Chuck Borstel said Commissioner David Balfour and agency officials are discussing project priorities. The ladybug pilot is in limbo until the agency decides whether lawmakers appropriated enough money for it, he said. "Sometimes legislative estimates are not always accurate," Borstel said. If the project gets a green light, he said the MDC would likely hand the money over to the Department of Environmental Management to figure out the details.
Not everyone is thrilled about the prospect of turning Massachusetts into ladybug-land. The Massachusetts Audubon Society is wary of the untrammeled use of "biological control agents" insects released to kill other, peskier insects. It's suspected that such attack bugs had a hand in the extirpation of the Regal Fritillary butterfly from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
Christopher Leahy, director of Mass. Audubon's Center for Biological Conservation, said environmentalists are worried about the fact that Eastern Hemlocks are "next on the storm track" for the woolly adelgids, but they're also concerned that the ladybugs might attack "good aphids," as well.
"The worry is always that the foreign control agent may be worse than the species it was placed there to control in the first place," Leahy said. "It's a fairly new science, this biological control thing. The intricacies of biological interactions are such that we can't possibly get our arms around them and know them well enough to predict accurately what's going to happen."
But Yates said the habits of the Japanese ladybugs are well known, and they only prey on woolly adelgids and one other type of insect, the latter of which makes the ladybugs infertile. "This is a very species-specific predator," Yates said.
Brewer said he's anxious to hear the pros and cons of biological agents, but he noted that natural predators are probably better than spraying noxious pesticides, which can seep into the water table and cause further harm to plants, animals and humans.
And Creem added, "What's the other answer? Let all the hemlocks die?"
Simply Wonderful News, August 1, 2000: The Friends' efforts to save our hemlocks from the woolly adelgid: We have learned that Governor Paul Celucci's veto of the $60,000 budget item we requested to grow and release ladybugs to safely combat the adelgids was overriden late on Monday, July 31, 2000 by the State Legislature!
This means that the money needed to grow the natural predator of the adelgid will be available to the Metropolitan District Commission.
The Friends plan to work with the MDC, the Department of Environmental Management, and the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs to achieve the end for which the funds are intended-- control of the adelgid and rescue of trees.
On behalf of Brian Yates and all the Friends of Hemlock Gorge, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who lobbied on behalf of this effort. We cannot help but believe that your phone calls and emails made a difference! We also want to extend our special thanks to all those legislators who supported this effort, and in particular we thank Kay Khan and Cynthia Creem for their leadership in sponsoring this legislation. We suggest that you contact them to let them know that these efforts are very much appreciated.
We want everyone to know that the Friends will keep keep you abreast of this effort to save the trees.
Grim News (July 26, 2000): To everyone concerned with the Friends' efforts to save our hemlocks from the woolly adelgid: We have learned that the $60,000 budget item we requested to grow and release ladybugs to safely combat the adelgids has been vetoed by Governor Celucci. Our only chance now is for a legislative override.
We urge all Friends and concerned citizens to PLEASE take a moment to call the offices of Speaker Thomas Finneran (617-722-2500) and House Ways and Means Chair Paul Haley (617-722-2990). It is our last chance this year, and a logn shot, but calls from concerned citizens might make all the difference. Calls from concerned citizens might make all the difference.
Thank you!
Urgent News (July 26, 2000): To everyone concerned with the Friends' efforts to save our hemlocks from the woolly adelgid: We have learned that the $60,000 budget item we requested to grow and release ladybugs to safely combat the adelgids has made it into the compromise budget that was passed by the Legislature and is now in the hands of Governor Celucci. It is his decision to leave the money in the budget or to veto it. LAST YEAR HE VETOED A SIMILAR APPROPRIATION! We must try to persuade the governor not to veto it.
We urge all Friends and concerned citizens to PLEASE take a moment to call the Governor's consituent services line at 617-727-6250 and tell the nice person who will take the call that you urge to governor to approve the funds. Calls from concerned citizens might make all the difference.
You may also write to the Governor's office (Gov. Paul Celucci, The State House, Boston, MA), but time is of the essence for this very worth cause.
If you have time, we similarly urge you to please also call MDC Commissioner David Balfour (click to see his recent letter to us) at 617-727-5114. You might also contact MDC Secretary Bob Durand (20 Somerset St., Boston, MA 02108) and any one else who might communicate the importance of this issue to the Governor.
Thank you!
We did
receive a supportive letter from MDC Commissioner
Balfour stating his position on
the adelgid and efforts to combat it. Click on the image
of the letter to see it.Hemlock Gorge on Channel 4 (September 10, 1999): Channel 4 Anchor Jack Williams did an op-ed column in the Herald and was contacted by Brian Yates. He filmed a story in Hemlock Gorge on Sunday with Brian and Charlie Burnham. It ran Sunday September 19 on the 6:30 and 11:00 o'clock news on Channel 4. Video tapes of the broadcast will be shown at a future Friends meeting.
State Senator Birmingham had a brief but successful visit to Hemlock Gorge. Brian met him, Senator Creem, and their staffs at the Ellis Street parking lot. They walked up to the Bridge and got as close to the echo station as was safe. They also walked up the stairs and took note of the need for repairs to the stairs and the bridge railings. Brian pointed out trees that were already dead and others that were heavily invested. He was informed about the partnerships for the parking lot and the Stone Barn. He seemed interested in coming back to see more. Senator Creem's staff was very pleased. Representative Kay Khan was there also.
Veto of Funds to Combat the Adelgid (August 13, 1999): Governor Celucci vetoed the supplemental budget items (described in the next item) that would have provided money to combat the Adelgid and repair Echo Bridge. We regret to have to bring you this sad news, and are encouraging efforts to override the veto. When the vote to override will be taken is not yet known. We will keep you informed. In the interim we urge you to contact your state legislators and encourage them to vote in favor of these budget items.
Page last updated February 8, 2020
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