hemlock I

White fuzz. This is the reason why we’re seeing fewer and fewer eastern Hemlock trees, and this is what forest ecologists are so scared of. White fuzz, which, when found at the base of hemlock needles, turns out to be the eggs of the hemlock woolly adelgid. An invading insect unknowingly brought over from Japan in the 1950s, these tiny bugs suck the tree’s sap, reproduce, and kill the tree within 3-5 years.

Without natural predators here, adelgids are decimating hemlock stands. In the Smoky Mountains and areas south, dead hemlocks are everywhere. We still have plenty up here in New England, but the adelgid is on the hunt and will continue to destroy this keystone species unless we intervene.

I made this print from a rubbing taken from a hemlock stump in my yard. We are lucky to have many hemlocks in our woods, but I have to wonder if my kids’ kids will ever know these glorious trees.

This handcarved/printed woodcut measures approx 14x14” and is printed with vegetable oil-based dark inky brown ink on Thai Kozo paper. Limited run of 50.