The Great Hemlock Decline 

Here in Nova Scotia I often find myself in Hemlock ravines. Some of the biggest most beautiful tree's in our forest's here are Hemlock. There is a push to try to slow the spread of the Wooly Adelgid here, however from what I've seen the focus has been on potentially limiting recreational activities in our forest's. Meanwhile the forestry industry marches on full speed ahead. I have found far more Ganoderma tsugae this year and earlier then I expected than the previous 3 years. I'm a big Eastern Hemlock fan for sure. Thank you Adam for this very concise and informative video. I appreciate it.

The great decline of any tree saddens me

My mom lived next to a lake in PA. Right next to her home’s foundation a beautiful little hemlock began to grow. Because it couldn’t live there, I transplanted it to my yard in NY. I have well drained soil so I watered it the first few years. It’s happily growing and is now at least twice my height. It’s so very pretty and I couldn’t be happier!

Adam: I’m a subscriber and on your email list, and recipient of an email from you to me personally a few months ago in response to your newsletter about the value of learning from “old” things. The quality of your 1) research, 2) content, and 3) presentation together with your compelling style is fantastic. I look forward to your postings. Many thanks for sharing your gift. When you speak it’s like you’re speaking with us, like a friend. Keep up the great work.

Hi Adam and all my tree hugging friends🥰🌎☀️💙

There is something awe inspiring about big hemlocks that grow high on the top of a hill, towering wide and high. There boughs going up and out and down stretching 40ft out. The natural guardian's breaking the wind and carrying the heavy snow giving the forest below time to grow strong. In the age of fear based media to make up for the lack of content appreciate the consistent quality.

I have a small 15 acre property and a separate 7 acre parcel in Eastern Ontario. There have been so many changes to the area forests. Pests have decimated the elms, butternuts, ashes, now we are also seeing attacks on beeches, hemlocks, and also spruce. We are anticipating attacks on the oaks and maples. For the small property owner, the question of what to plant becomes a question of “what tree species would I like to grow”, to “which trees have a chance of survival”.

I have heard the decline and resurgence theory on other trees as well. After hearing of the fig tree seeds found from 2000 years ago grown and eventually its fruit harvested, that is evidence some trees at least could make a resurgence when the right circumstances needed for survival occur again.

This old growth hemlock forest in Maine is one of my favorite places to visit. it is sad to see these giants deteriorate

(1:47) ...the wiggling branches behind your head make it look like you have antenna😂...Nature Man! Guardian of the trees!❤

My town has a public park with a grove of eastern hemlocks that are 400-500 years old, it' such a special feeling walking through it!

Thanks for your dedication 🙏

I live in a remote county on the Tennessee line where Gensing and Turkey Tail mushrooms grow. I'm on an old ridge which is a Water Dome LOL and every day I get to view the Hemlock tree that grows on the Water Domes rim LOL. ❤❤

Thank you so much for this healing perspective of the Eastern Hemlock decline. I have even so sad every time I pass one of infested Hemlocks during my hikes. This has given me a context that is broader in time enabling me to believe that perhaps they will come back some day.

My absolute favorite tree 🌲 So dark, dank that in an old growth forest they block out all light from the forest floor resulting nothing but thick bed of pine needles on the forest floor that smells like heaven itself. So sad to see so many dying off near me. Giant ones that have stood for hundreds of years are succumbing. It will be after my lifetime that our forest will recover, and that greatly saddens me.

Your passion for teaching and sharing your knowledge is so evident in all of your videos. I would describe your content as concise but full of information, complex yet perspicuously presented, and engaging. Kudos!

In Connecticut, I grew up with many dark forests of eastern hemlock. After hurricane Gloria, the hemlock forests perished completely from the wooly adelgid. State Entomologist, Mark McClure introduced an invasive lady bug that to control the adelgid, and hemlock are coming back living with the adelgid in Connecticut.

Another great video. Thank you! I'd love to see a follow-up discussing the current challenges of Eastern Hemlock.

That was interesting, I love the giant Eastern Hemlocks up here on the Plateau, Thanks for sharing.

There are some breathtaking stills in your videos lately. Really inspires me to get out in nature and slow down. Thanks for another great one.

My favorite tree. I spend a lot of time, every 3 years or so, pouring a water based pesticide (Bonide) on the hemlocks on my property. I now have very healthy trees, especially the one in my front yard (rather large). I've noticed something interesting. Even though I didn't treat all my hemlocks, some are difficult to get to carrying water buckets, they have mostly recovered too. It makes me wonder if there is some density of wooly adelgid that is needed for it to thrive. I'm glad either way.

As a native of upstate New York (and now living in Connecticut), and a life-long nature lover, I am, of course, well acquired with tne eastern hemlock and its current challenges. So I greatly appreciate the historical information that you have presented in this video. As always with your posts, it was very informative and interestingly and clearly presented. Thanks ! And keep up the great work !

Another informative video....on a funny note...when you are standing in front of the small hemlock, it appears as though you have two green antenae on your head moving in sync with your head movement.

Great Work, Adam. I loved the Hemlocks in Maine... Cheers.

Thanks for this very interesting and informative video ❤

Forty years ago while scouting for moose in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada my companion and I came upon a stand of hemlock that had trees with girths so large that we could not touch each other's hands when embracing them. I've never been back to that area but I believe they have since been harvested.

The pollen study is fascinating, Adam! Never heard of that. You always deliver some interesting research data with your lessons. I appreciate you!

Awesome video as always! It's amazing to think how the current ranges of our native trees are just a snapshot in time, and over longer time scales they have shifted, shrunk, and expanded. Very fascinating stuff, thanks for sharing!

I love this channel Adam! You are such a good science communicator and the juxtaposition of beautiful but also topically relevant forest footage is sublime.

I just want to say thank you for your hard work and dedication producing these videos. I really appreciate it and learn a lot from your work.

Thank you Adam.

You always thank us for watching, but thank YOU for posting.

Great analysis and a wise summation on the nature of ecology. Thank you

I really enjoy your almost taoist perspective on ecology. Nature will always prevail, maybe just not in a way that provides a constant steady state benefit to humans.

I've watched all the mature green ash trees die on my property in the last 20 years. Only younger seedlings survived but as they reach maturity, the emerald ash borer takes them down.

I agree with you completely! There are a lot more factors we have no control over than the few things we can control.

Cathedral State Park in West Virginia is amazing! From Virginia, drove 2hrs to visit and walk through, never seen hemlocks that big

The Easter hemlock is one of my favorites. Thanks for the video.

Web worms are crushing my cypress trees in the south right now. Never have I seen such a plague of web worms.

One of my neighbors had two beautiful mature hemlock trees taken out of her front yard last year. They were healthy and one even shaded her carport where she sits out frequently during the day, the other was off to the side. Neither were interfering with power lines or anything, either, so no idea of the reason. I think they did well because her lot is shaded by a surrounding wooded area in Summer and it's flatter than most of the others so retains water better than the rest of ours tend to do.

Another fascinating video Adam. And Nature just keeps rolling along and doing its thing! 🌲🌲👍👍

Fascinating, Adam! Anyone know why many young sugar maples are failing in eastern forest? Losing more every year here, no road salt, etc. Heat stress?

Nooooo, one of my very favorite trees. Miss them over here in germany. I grew up with only smallish ones around and was really blown away when I saw how big they can get. I must say I found the big ones a bit boring though. That soft, shady foliage is so high up on the big ones, you don't feel it intimately like smaller trees. :) They grow all over the gorges in central new york.

Thanks Tree Dude !

Beautiful old growth Eastern Hemlock nestled in deep ravine below Bays Mountain Kingsport Tennessee devastated.😢

Hemlock forests are my favorite biome I’ve experienced.

Thank you for continuing to teach me and others about our forests

I appreciate the work you put into your content, and I admire how you promote different perspectives on topics such hemlock decline and the historic prevalence of chestnut in eastern forests. That said, I think this video in particular is too short and leaves out important contexts. I've already seen some comments going on how humans aren't responsible for the declines of various species and outright denial of human induced climate change. Given enough time, introduced species will find a balance in the ecosystems they've been introduced in. It is also possible for some of our most afflicted species populations to recover from exotic pathogens and changing environments. Climate change is natural, but that doesn't mean that human activities can't also influence such cycles. Currently, the world is very globalized and we've effectively brought continents together. The rate of these changes is rapid and it is very possible that some species become lost without proper attention. My big worry that is that people are going to takeaway from this video that nature always "heals itself". We can't control everything, and we shouldn't worry about everything, but we still need to be mindful of how we treat the environment.

Is there a posibility of you making a video about seqoias? I would love that since its my fav tree

Love you brother ❤️

I do so enjoy these videos, I learn so much about our W PA environs! Thank you!! I live along a creek, at the base of the Appalachian plateau. I have several very large hemlock on my land; thankfully they are doing well.

Huh... this explains a lot! Thank you as ALWAYS!

I have never seen as much reishi mushroom than I have this year. The forrest floor is dry in central pa here ..not much rain so far this june

Be sure to read the article, "A Four-Year, Seven-State Reforestation Trial with Eastern Hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) Resistant to Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges tsugae)" from the academic journal "Forests." Researchers from the University of Rhode Island bred hemlock trees that have survived the HWA and Elon Scale and they have a ridiculously high survival rate. I'm still trying to find where I can get some seeds and seedlings to help with reforestation, but there are plots of these trees in several places.

We have a good bit of hemlock, always confined to 50-100 steps from the creek. Adelgid seemed to damage nursery-sized trees but the older ones are not showing it (may be happening, but not visible, and I grew up in timber industry). Opposite happened 20 years ago with pine beetles, with younger trees seemingly unaffected. Appreciate your content, approach, and attitude. 👍😎 We have a few chestnuts still poking up from 100 years ago, then dying back, and trying again a few years later. Only saw one live to fruiting age. Thanks again! 👍😎 Particularly liked the poison oak/ivy video.

another superb presentation….you rock. Love all your vids

Hi Adam, Thank you for another great Video and your work in general. YOU got me out there safely looking for and eating mushrooms. I am so impressed with your quality research and the documentation of your views. Your 10,000 ft view encompasses Millenia, not just decades and is required for a comprehensive perspective of the health of our Forest Biomes. YOU have taught me so much, and I am so grateful. Thank you Sir.

Dr. Richard McDonald has identified a predator that can control the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid. He has a lecture series on Living Web Farms using the title "Meet The Beetles! Biological Control of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid".

"Hey you, Eastern Hemlock, which do you prefer?" 😂😂

Adam, if you're ever in southern Indiana, I recommend that you come out here to Crawford County. Not too far from my home, over in the Hoosier National Forest part of the county, there's a very beautiful and mystical box canyon called Hemlock Cliffs. The hemlocks grow there in abundance, thanks to the damp environment and relatively cool temperatures of the canyon. There are some nice waterfalls, a sandstone arch, and plenty of green all year round. There's also a mystery of a family that disappeared there back in 1949. They were actually living with a neighbor named William (Bill) Dessie Messamore, because their own house had burned. Bill was a notorious bank robber who in fact spent some time on Alcatraz Island. His farm was actually on a promontory area known as Messamore Cliffs, a short distance from the official Hemlock Cliffs recreation area, Bill was never charged in connection with the disappearance of the Vandiver family, and no bodies were ever found. Anyway, it's a really neat place to see. Thanks for the new video. Keep up the awesome work!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and passion. I find many beautiful Eastern Hemlock in Ontario, around Owen Sound. Knowing more about their history and status is great. Around Ontario common buckthorn is our worst invasive tree, I think.

Thank you. You've given me new ways to think about change!

Very interesting and well explained reasons, thanks for sharing. I have learned so much from your videos. I hope one day we will cross paths since I also live in western pennsylvania.

Things look pretty bleak for the Eastern Hemlock right now. I really hope the hemlock can make a turnaround as it's one of my favorite trees. Both of my favorite trees are threatened right now, the hemlock and the beech tree.

Fabulous research and presentation, Adam. I wasn't aware of this long-term history of the Eastern Hemlock. In the 22 years I've been living on this land (and esp the last 10 years), we've seen serious hemlock decline - as in widespread death from hemlock pathogens (Wooly Adelgid followed by Hemlock Borer beetle). It's been fascinating to seen how bird species like our woodpeckers benefit from hemlock decline ( a) by feasting on all the invertebrates living in these declining trees and b) by utilizing the cavities created by larger woodpeckers). Forests communities are dynamic - not static...which you communicate well. Change is the one constant we can count on in the more-than-human-world.

Love your channel so much

We have some massive Hemlocks in Ontario, and yes they are dying...only plus I guess is that one by one they flush huge amounts of Reishi, so in the area I'll have the supply the rest of my life. 🍄🍄🍄

Very balanced presentation. Thank you for the great info! I have a 6 acre property on PEI and it has one.Just one. Its about 20 or so. Hoping it makes it, so far no wooley buggers.

Most natural occurrences are cyclical. Whether it's an outbreak of pests, climate fluctuations, or seasonal weather ( think tornado or hurrican season) As we continue to learn/or deduce what happened in years gone by; I hope we still have time to apply what we are learning to save our forests today.

Thank you, Mr. Adam, thank you.

It's so sad. I regularly paddle a river on the NH/ME border. Many hemlocks on the NH side are dying, many already dead- almost all yellowing. The ones on the ME side of the river are fine so far. HWA's winged form doesn't exist here so river barriers work for a time.

Thank you Adam for an informative and Honest report.

Thanks for the info, friend.

Thanks Adam. It must have taken you a long time to gather all that fascinating information for this video. The cycles of ecology during interglacial periods of the Pleistocene go through Dry Open Woodland, Deciduous Forest, Mixed Forest and then Humid Conifer Forest before Open Vegetation during a glacial maximum. I pulled this from "The British Palaeolithic" an interesting book by Paul Pettitt and Mark White. A great source of information for anyone interested in archaeology of that period.

Ty for teaching us Adam

Good work!

We have those in Alabama in the Bankhead Forest. I think it’s the Southern most stand in the country. We have some massive examples.

Bro your videos are amazing and I love them. Creation is much younger. I hope this helps.

What an awesome video full of education

Very interesting, Adam. Time will tell if Eastern hemlock survive the woolly adelgid. I'm not optimistic, and I hope that I'm wrong not to be. As you say, hemlock is so ecologically important that even a significant decline (as we're seeing now, at least in the stands that I've visited in the past decade or so) will have massive ecological ramifications, from native insects, to birds, to fish, and on and on. And this is coming on top of all the other losses and significant declines, such that there is an actual cascade of associated losses. I'm no Chicken Little and I understand natural cycles, but the changes that are occuring now are anthropogenic, extremely rapid, and geographically extensive in ways that dwarf previous cycles and outpace the ability of many species to adapt. Yes, 'nature' will endure, but it will be changed very dramatically and the losses than define the changes are heartbreaking.

Great comments. Change is inevitable in any ecosystem and it is actually good for the system.

I have seen it flourish in Grand father mountain state park north carolina. But it's only one small area in the great scheme of things.

RIP Sparta Glen. Sparta NJ. Most beautiful stand of hemlocks, until woolly adelaide killed them, and then the whole place was washed away in a freak raging storm. I really miss that place.

Lost many old growth hemlock in western RI 20 yrs. ago . Made for great reishi mushroom growth which has since declined.

All the beech trees are dying in southern Canada. They lose their bark. It goes all white and stringy then falls off. Then a few years later they're dead.

here in Vermont and New Hampshire the old pine trees are dying, along with some of the old firs

Lol, of course I just planted an Eastern Hemlock a week ago in my NE Ohio yard. I'm aware of the wooly adelgid, but I have examined several trees in my neighborhood [there're pretty common around here] and they all seem healthy with no sign of infestation. But I have also read that a cold winter will kill the pest off and has hindered its progress. Otoh, I'm at ground zero for beech leaf disease - the nematodes are killing off ALL the beeches here. It's terrible.

Out here in Washington State, the state tree is the Western Hemlock. Our hemlocks are also dying, due to a root fungus, Rhizoctonia butinii, and drought. But not affected by the Wooly Adelgid yet.

Several decades ago I made several visits to The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest as well as old-growth Tulip/Eastern Hemlock cove forests in Smokey Mountains National Park. The Eastern Hemlock were huge, the Tulip huger. If memory serves, often 8' or more dbh, with 75-100 feet of clear trunk and a crown of large limbs reaching up another 100'. Best seen early spring, winter and later in the autumn. Better visibility, fewer bugs. How well are the Hemlock doing in the Allegheny rain-forest?

I know where this one patch of hemlocks above the Old Lanesboro PA revisor have all died. There are a few maybe at the 1200 to 1400 ft elevation line above them, but that is it a few scattered through the wood above that dense and dead grove of hemlocks. Now other areas it is a few here adn a few there that are dead, not just all like there.

If it weren't for you grabing the tree I would have said you were blue screened. I still have a hard time accepting it lol😂

Collaborated with Deevey Jr. while embarking on my career in forestry many years ago.

I was told when I was taking a course from a state of Rhode Island expert 25 years ago that i f I wanted to save a residential tree or hedge from Wooly Adelgid, I should mix up a slurry of water , low nitrogen fertilizer, and Merit{ used for grubs in lawns} then, make a dam around tree and pour it in.....the tree goes after the nitrogen, sucks it up to the needles and then the Merit kills the pests. Never had reason to try it but he was a professor teaching a course on pesticides so I assume there must be something in the scholastic literature to back it up

The richest people on the planet decided trees don’t matter, this proves intelligence is not a requirement to be wealthy, you just have to be greedy, and be willing to sacrifice nature for profits.

Many areas in northern Wisconsin hemlock are thriving and reproducing, these areas are also protected, thanks

I make hemlock soda all the time. It’s massively abundant here in Massachusetts.

Thanks Adam.

I have one of these. My area's pine forests were pretty much decimated. I wish I could get more pine species to grow near it & recreate a small pine forest, but thus far, it's been to no avail.

Very well said. Great conclusion

Thanks ❤