Hemlock ecosystem monitoring in southern West Virginia

We initiated a long-term hemlock ecosystem monitoring study in 1998 on the New River Gorge National River (NERI) and Gauley River National Recreation Area (GARI), in Nicholas, Fayette, and Raleigh counties, West Virginia, to quantify ecosystem response to invasion by the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). Hemlock vigor and degree of adelgid infestation were quantified in 1998-2007, vegetation structure and composition were sampled in 1999 and 2007, and avian populations were sampled 1999-2007. The HWA was detected on eight of 36 sampling plots in 2004 and 22 of 36 by 2007. Now that most of the monitoring plots are infested with HWA and the literature suggests that tree mortality can occur within four to six years (McClure 1991), we expect hemlock mortality to ensue. In this paper, we summarize data collected pre-infestation and during the initial stages of infestation.