Date: February 3rd, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at Walnut Creek Preserve

Speaker: Thom Green and Olivia Hall from Hemlock Restoration Initiative

North Carolina’s hemlock trees need your help. We have two species of hemlock in North Carolina, the eastern and the Carolina, and the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid threatens both. Though hemlocks are declining, there is hope to bring them back to their previous glory. The mission of Hemlock Restoration Initiative (HRI) is to work with a variety of partners and existing programs to restore hemlocks to long-term health throughout North Carolina and ensure that eastern and Carolina hemlocks can resist hemlock woolly adelgid and survive to maturity on North Carolina’s public and private lands. Join Olivia and Thom from the Hemlock Restoration Initiative to learn about hemlock ecology, woolly adelgid biology, what is being done to help, and management strategies to take care of hemlocks on your own land.

Olivia Hall is serving an AmeriCorps term with HRI as the Stewardship and Conservation Education Associate. She graduated with her Masters in Biology in May of 2023 from Northern Michigan University, and moved to the Asheville area in July. Being from the north country, she holds a particular affinity for conifers, and she loves the ecological value and beauty they hold. She is thrilled to be a part of HRI for the year.

Thom Green is the national forests treatment coordinator for the Hemlock Restoration Initiative. He holds an MS in Biology from Western Carolina University where his studies focused on forest ecology of the Southern Appalachians. He has worked for HRI since 2017 carrying out hemlock conservation on public lands and educating landowners about protecting their own hemlocks. Thom’s passion for ecosystem-based forest management fuels his work with HRI and the effort to save North Carolina’s remaining hemlocks.

*Walnut Creek Preserve is private property and guests are only allowed on the property by invitation (a planned event or scheduled group).  Thank you.

The Walnut Creek Preserve Speaker Series programs are made possible thanks to our partnership with the Preserve.

*Walnut Creek Preserve is private property and guests are only allowed on the property by invitation (a planned event or scheduled group).  Thank you.

Contact Pam Torlina, [email protected], with questions or for more information.