CHATSWORTH, Ga. — It’s a tiny bug, barely visible to the naked eye, but the hemlock wooly adelgid is causing big problems. The U.S. National Park Service reports it has killed around 80 percent of the hemlock trees in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina

Save Georgia’s Hemlocks is a nonprofit organization that aims to keep the bug from destroying this state’s hemlocks. On Saturday, June 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Murray County Agriculture Center in Chatsworth, the group will present training on how to identify and combat the insect.

“It’s sort of like the master gardener program, where people learn a lot that will be useful to them, but we also hope and expect that they will use what they have learned to help other people in the community,” said Donna Shearer, chairman of Save Georgia’s Hemlocks.

“If a person is already a member of Save Georgia’s Hemlocks, there is no cost,” she said. “But we do ask people to become members if they are going to take the training, and that’s a $20 donation. We’d like for people to register before Friday, June 21.”

To register, contact Kim at (706) 455-2313 or kimberlyraewood@gmail.com and be sure to provide both your phone number and email address.

The hemlock wooly adelgid is an invasive species, not native to the United States.

“They came from Japan in an imported shipment of trees about 70 years ago,” said Shearer. “The bugs are extremely prolific in their reproduction, so they began spreading up and down the Appalachian Mountains and made it into Georgia around 2002 or 2003. They don’t fly around, but they are very efficient hitchhikers. They latch onto deers, squirrels, people. They are so tiny you really can’t see the bugs. What you can see, during the first half of the year, are these white, cotton ball-looking things on the underside of hemlock branches. That’s their egg sacks.”

The hemlock wooly adelgid suck the sap out of the hemlock’s needles, slowly killing the trees. They have no predators to keep them in check in the eastern part of the United States, though they do have predators in Japan and in the Pacific Northwest part of the United States.

“There is chemical treatment to combat the bug. It’s quite safe and easy to do. It’s also inexpensive,” Shearer said. “It’s applied to the soil at the base of the hemlock tree. The tree absorbs it. The bug drinks the juice, and it dies.”

John Lugthart, a professor of biology at Dalton State College, said the hemlock tree plays an important role in the ecology of local forests and a threat to it could have a major impact.

“They are an important tree, particularly up in the mountains and particularly along the sides of streams,” he said. “They help prevent erosion of the banks of streams, which is important for water quality. Their canopies are very dense and shade the streams, especially small headwater streams. They keep the water cooler, which makes the streams better for cold-water species such as trout. And there are a number of plants and animals that have adapted to living in the dense hemlock groves.”

The hemlock training will include a sack lunch, and part of the class will be outdoors so those who sign up are urged to wear work clothes appropriate for the weather.

Save Georgia’s Hemlocks presents a training class for people interested in learning how to save the hemlock trees from the invasive insect called hemlock woolly adelgid that is attacking and killing them, on Saturday, June 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This training will provide in-depth information about the trees, the bugs, assessing infestations, cultural practices, chemical treatments, biological controls, cost and safety, assisting other property owners, working on the national forest and more. The class will be at the Murray County Agriculture Center, 1100 Green Road, Chatsworth. Individuals from Murray and all contiguous counties are invited. Registration is required. Contact Kim at (706) 455-2313 or kimberlyraewood@gmail.com and be sure to provide both your phone number and email address.