Lion Jim Wentworth is speaker for Lions meeting

Union County Lions Club's own Jim Wentworth, who is with the U.S. Forest Service, was the speaker at recent Union County Lions meeting. Lion Jim spoke of the tiny little insect that is causing a killing blight on our Hemlock trees.

The infestation of the woolley adelgid is indeed deadly to the Hemlock in portions of 16 states from Maine to Georgia; sometimes taking as long as 10 years for the death of a tree in the northern range and as little as 3 to 6 years in the southern range.

Chemical control of this very tiny 1/16-inch insect is limited to individual tree treatments, however, the best control

is biological and so several predatores have been imported from China, Japan, and Western North America. They are beetle like in appearance and feast only on this tiny 'wooly adelgid.' In the meantime, efforts to locate, evaluate, and establish other natural enemies continue.

During the question and answer time that followed Lion Jim's presentation the subject of bears and snakes came up. Needless to say, this turned out to be a very lively topic, however, this could be the subject of a future news article.

Thank you, Jim Wentworth, for a very interesting presentation. Remember the Lions Motto: We Serve.