Drafting
Screenshot
Hemlock* is a prominent species in forests of Sandy Lake & Environs.
*Specifically, the Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis
In the immediate vicinity of Sandy Lake, hemlock is the dominant tree species in three stands and it’s a significant component in most of the other, mixed forest stands (view map at right).
Trees in the cathedral-like “Peninsula Hemlock Stand” are over 200 years old, while patches of Old Growth circa 145 years old occur in the hemlock dominated stands on the north and west sides of Sandy Lake.
Thus I have been keeping an eye out for the dreaded Hemlock Wooly Adelgidn (HWA), aka the Hemlock Vampires since we, collectively, first learned about its presence in SW Nova Scotia in August of 2017. That was also the year when I began explore and describe the forests of Sandy Lake & Environs.
“This map displays detection sites as of January 2025.” Screen capture of map posted on NS Hemlock Initative website, accessed May 9, 2025
When first discovered, HWA had already spread though three counties at the southwest extremity of NS (Digby, Yarmouth and Shelburne)*; before the end of 2017 it was also found widely distributed or “established” in Queens and Annapolis counties. It was first found in Lunenburg Co. in 2020, Kings Co. in 2021, Hants and Halifax Counties in 2023 (CFIA Questions and answers: hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) detection, accessed May 9, 2025; document modified 2024-05-30 )
*Likely it had hopped across the gulf of Maine (or got a ride on some wood) from infected areas in the northeastern USA – see map. It is not known in N.B.
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Currently within HRM/Halifax Co. HWA has been identified as present at sites: Oakfield Park on Grand Lake, a residential property in the Papermill Lake area (Bedford), and Sandy Lake (Bedford) – yes “Our” Sandy Lake!
The only public references to the Oakfield Park and Sandy Lake occurrences I have been able to locate (May 9, 2025) is in a Halifax Examiner article by Suzanne Rent on Jan 13, 2025:
Halifax Examiner: Do we have HWA in HRM that we know? I know it was found on a property in Bedford in August 2023, but has it been found elsewhere?
Shauna Doll [“environmental specialist with HRM, leading the project to inoculate the hemlocks”] : In addition to that private property, there are only two other detections that have been confirmed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), so there two additional detections in 2024, three total. There was one in Sandy Lake and there was one Oakfield Park, which is a provincial park, and the province has already treated it in that area.
My understanding from a recent discussion with Ron Neville a CFIA official who has been leading much of the work on HWA in Nova Scotia, is that it was found one of three searches f0r HWA in the Sandy Lake Park area the fall of 2024, and was sighted on only one smaller (not yet mature tree) in this vicinity: XXX XXX.
– Poster: Hemlock woolly adelgid CFIA, Cottony sacs at base of needles, 3 to 6 mm; Spider egg sac, Spittle bug