We were approached a few months ago by Kyle Reiser and Amanda Guenther from Ohio State University about their very noble project for Spring Break: Saving the hemlock trees from the invasive Wooly Adelgid Moth. We loved their initiative and desire to protect the environment while really doing something about it, and we gladly got involved with their group.
Twelve Ohio State University Students traveled to Smoky Mountains National Park to volunteer for the National Park Service in conjunction with the American Hiking Society Alternative Spring Break Series. Kyle and Amanda shared their story with us, we are very proud of them and their team!
“We arrived in North Carolina on Sunday March 22nd and spent the day setting up camp and getting situated in our campsite. We worked closely with National Park Service Park Rangers to treat hemlock trees for the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid (HWA), an invasive insect that is currently killing hemlock trees in the Eastern United States. We learned how to determine the quantity of chemical treatment to apply to the trees by measuring the diameter at breast height (DBH) of each individual tree. We spent most of our time trekking through steep mountain slopes off trail to reach the most vulnerable old growth hemlock trees. We removed and chemically treated multi-flora rose, an invasive plant from Asia, from certain areas within the park. We spent half a day cleaning historical cabins that were built when the area was first settled by Europeans in the 1800s before the park existed.”
Throughout the course of the entire week, we saved 671 hemlock trees, removed thousands of multi-flora rose, and cleaned three historical houses. Our work benefited not only the National Park Service and the Smoky Mountain Park Rangers, but the thousands of nature lovers that visit the park each year and the surrounding Smoky Mountain National Park community. One could even say that our work benefited society as a whole (including non-human wildlife) as the environment and the natural resources within the environment are shared by all that inhabit it.
In addition to learning about invasive species and the history of the park, we were lucky enough to listen to an elk expert speak about the park’s elk restoration project that began in the early 1990’s. We even got to witness park rangers tranquilize and subsequently tag a live female elk!
Aside from technical knowledge of environmental management, our group gained much more. The twelve of us became a very close tight knit group through working and spending time together throughout the week and will remain friends long after the conclusion of our trip. We also built relationships with the Park Rangers and our trip leader from the American Hiking Society, Jeffrey Hunter, each of which we hope to keep in touch with in the future. Finally, I can say with certainty that each of us will look back on this trip with fond memories of friends, learning, and service and that none of us could imagine spending our spring break any other way!
Currently we are working on an educational project about HWA with a forest management researcher from The School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University. We hope to share our experience and raise awareness about invasive species.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank XShot for recognizing our project and deeming it worthy of a donation.
Kyle and Amanda , OSU 2009
“We are making a difference–ensuring the quality of the ecosystem. If the hemlocks go, the whole ecosystem is in trouble.” Eddie Klatka
“We were there to fight that pesky wooly adelgid,” Rob Bowers.
“It’s killing all the hemlocks so we’ve got to take it out,” Erik Bobbit.
Amanda Guenther put it best when she said, “We helped protect our environment all while having a good time over our Spring
Break.”
XShot group picture!