Robert Anderson Photo
Community collection
A group of concerned citizens is working with the Town to protect a collection of artwork donated to the children of West Harpswell and still hanging in the West Harpswell School. David Etnier, left, and Dave Hackett recently admired one of the collection’s paintings, Hamilton Harbor, created by Etnier’s father, Stephen.
Stacy Welner Photo
Smashing pumpkin
Mike Murphy shows off the Great Pumpkin he grew in celebration of Halloween. On September 24, Murphy’s gourd won third place, with a weight of 904 pounds, in the second annual Sanford Weigh-Off.
Tom Jones Photo, Mary Ann Nafh Inset Photo
Banned beaches
Inset: A private property sign and fence block off access to Cedar and Robinhood beaches on Bailey Island. An aerial view shows the beaches in contention. See article on page 9.
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The Anchor Staff
| 02 June 2010
The invasion of sap feeding, non-native insects is placing some of Harpswell's evergreens at risk. The insects, known as the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) has the potential of decimating local tree stocks, rendering conifers susceptible to disease, damage, and destruction.
"I saw some in the Bethel Point Road area," says Harpswell town tree warden Tim Vail. "It's probably all in the stands of hemlocks over there. It was found by the guys pruning trees for Central Maine Power."
Vail, a licensed arborist, says he has not seen infected areas outside of Cundy's Harbor, but mentions that he was "amazed" on how heavy it was.
Native to East Asia, the HWA was brought to America during the 1920's. The insect feeds on the sap of hemlock trees, damaging or killing them. In this particularly part of the world, HWA is found predominantly in eastern North America.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, the hemlock woolly adelgid is now established from northeastern Georgia to southeastern Maine, and as fast west as eastern Kentucky and Tennessee.
"The thing that Mid-Coast Maine has going for it is that the HWA population is effected by cold temperatures, and the one problem is we didn't have cold temperatures last winter," Vail says. "If it gets down to ten degrees below zero, the population is reduced significantly so that mortality usually does not occur, but no matter what the temperatures are, it could still be an influence on a general health of the trees and there may be some mortality on trees that have other problems."
Recently, a special alert was put forth by the Maine government to help slow the spread of HWA. Steps include a quarantine system, where citizens are encouraged not to move hemlock trees, seedlings or nursery stock from infested areas.
"It's very easy to see the influence of these insects on the trees," Vail says when asked the best ways to identify HWA. "If you just look at the bottom of the needles, you will see these cottony masses that are all over it. So it's very hard to confuse this from any other problem."
A 2007 report titled Environmental Assessment Regarding Management of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Impacts In Maine states that more than 5000 acres of hemlocks across 119,000 acres in the southern tip of York County are considered infested with scattered, low-level HWA populations.
As for Vail, he says that it is in the interest of being an arborist that he remains wary of this growing issue.
"If any of my clients who are large woodland owners have HWA on their trees, it may significantly impact the vigor of the entire stand of hemlock. It could defoliate a particular stand of trees completely if it is primarily hemlock, so that would be a problem if someone has a lot of hemlock on their property."
"If this particular pests attack the hemlock trees," Vail says, "They have a monospecies that creates a problem because the only tree you have is effected by this insect."
Vail echoes the sentiments of the Maine alert, cautioning Harpswell citizens about the potential spread of the environmentally dangerous insect.
"If someone's going to collect a sample, I'd be real careful what you do with it," Vail says. "If you take a sample and bring it to the back of your truck, and it flies out, it's going to infect anywhere it lands."
"But," Vail adds, "that's going to happen in Harpswell anyways because it's going to blow around. But the less that the pest has the opportunity to be moved physically with other means than its natural abilities would be desirable."
What prompts Vail and others to be on the lookout is the alarming trend of surrounding states in the northeast, with the hope that the state of Maine and the town of Harpswell will not be HWA's next victim.
"Before, the closest infestation was Saco, so it's significant that it has jumped so far," Vail says regarding to the newfound spread in Harpswell. As far as the state of Maine as a whole, "In Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York State, it has killed entire stands of hemlocks, all the way down to New Jersey. So it is a serious problem, at least to the south of us."
For more information on the hemlock woolly adelgid and more, the Maine Forest Service Insect and Disease Laboratory can be reached at (207) 287-2431.