Recent News
Hopeful Adelgid News: 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…
Annual Letter to Members, 2001
2001 was a year of truly major accomplishments for the Friends in our efforts to preserve and enhance the beauty of Hemlock Gorge. These accomplishments are the fruits of your efforts, the legislative leadership of Senators Thomas Birmingham and Cynthia Creem and Representative Kay Khan, and the hard work of Metropolitan District Commission Site Supervisor…
Annual Letter to Members, 2000
The year 2000 has been a year of major accomplishments for the Friends in our efforts to preserve and enhance the beauty of Hemlock Gorge. These accomplishments are the fruits of your efforts, the legislative leadership of Senator Cynthia Creem and Representative Kay Khan, and our partnership with the Metropolitan District Commission, in particular Site…
2001 Ladybug Release
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,…
2001 Spring Cleanup
Adelgid Good News Flash
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…
Adelgid Update: March 18, 2001
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. REGIONWild woolly adelgids attack hemlock trees By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent, 3/18/2001 https://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.Copyright 2001 Globe…
Steve Clark: Four Seasons of Hemlock Gorge
Panoramic photos of Hemlock Gorge taken by Steve Clark from the top of Echo Bridge show well the splendor of the Reservation and comprise the Friends’ Four Seasons of Hemlock Gorge collection. Panoramas were pretty special back in 2000.
About our Ladybugs
The National Association of Conservation Districts published an encouraging note (June 1998) on the use of the ladybugs to control the adelgid. Additional information is in the Minutes of our November 1998 Meeting. Use of the ladybugs was also reviewed at hearings held by State Senator Stephen Brewer last fall in Gardner, MA.
About Adelgids (2000)
The status of control efforts and debate since approval of the legislation are well summarized in a news story provided by the Massachusetts State House News Service. Click here to read that story. See our August, 2000 Woolly Adelgid Page for more information about the pest and our plan of action using the ladybug that…
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 are killing the reservation. Dr. Charles Burnham of DEM has made arrangements to grow up a stock of ladybugs…
A Wedding!
The Friends are delighted to announce that our secretary, Hannah Sherman, was married to Romolo Raffa on Sunday, December 10, 2000. The Friends, many of whom attended the reception, extend their best wishes to the happy couple!
