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Grand Opening of the new YHC Beetle Rearing Facility Special Announcement! Grand Opening of the new YHC Beetle Rearing Facility Friday, April 18, 2008 beginning at 3:30 p.m. You are all invited to attend to celebrate the opening of our new predatory beetle-rearing facility! Refreshments will be served. And now the newsletter: I. Brief Statement of Financial Condition As of March 31, 2008, we have a balance of $34,252 in our Hemlock Project restricted account. We have received $275 in new donations over the past month from 3 private individuals. In addition to the monetary donations, we also had 19 total volunteer hours this month from four individuals. Among the volunteers were 3 boy scouts (Nathaniel Arnold, Jason Jackson, and Carsten Judd) from BSA Troop 125 (Hiawassee) who worked in the lab as part of their service project for attaining the rank of 1st class scout! My deepest thanks go out to these scouts, as well as the other volunteers and donors. You all keep this lab running!. Expenses this month totaled $1,042, and consisted of supplies (wet foam, gauze, brushes) and student wages for the month of March (5 students, $7/hr, 30 - 40 total student hrs/wk). We currently have five student employees: Thomas Caudell, Angee DelConte, Alan Guilfoyle, Jonathan May and Emily Parker. II. Beetle Production Progress As of today (April 1, 2008), a total of 4979 adult beetles have been produced this rearing season in our lab. We are still far behind last year's numbers, but beetle production continues to accelerate. We currently have 42 rearing cages in production. Environmental releases of adult Sasajiscymnus beetles began on 11 March 2008 this year. Three releases have been performed thus far, all on National Forest land. The locations of these releases are: #1 - 11 March 2008, Coopers Creek (HWA #74, Union County) - 507 beetles #2 - 22 March 2008, Sea Creek (HWA #79, Fannin County) - 798 beetles #3 - 27 March 2008, Waters Creek (HWA #72, Lumpkin County) - 962 beetles These beetles have been kept in the lab until they show evidence of sexual maturity (egg production, presence of larvae, etc.), and are placed in a "cool" room prior to release. The temperature of this room is kept at a temperature comparable to expected release temperatures. It is our hope that they will acclimate better to their release conditions, and will reproduce at a greater rate in the field. Because of these added steps, and because of the longer "holding" period, we have had fewer releases this year. However, we believe that these beetles are more "optimized" to be successful in their release environments than those we have raised in the past. The lower numbers of beetles per release also reflect a change in our release strategy, so we can hopefully spread the beetles out more along the forefront of the adelgid infestation. We will begin environmental egg releases around the middle of April. Since the only locations where we have seen adult beetles in the environment post-release has been in egg release areas, we will continue to practice this form of environmental release. It is our hope that beetles produced from eggs in their release environments will be better acclimated toward reproduction in the wild since they haven't been exposed to ideal lab conditions (i.e. they haven't been "pampered", so they may be more hardy). As always, we will closely monitor the hatch success of these eggs in the field. III. A Final Word As I have done many times before, I wish to acknowledge the hard work of Jim Wentworth and his crew at the Blue Ridge Ranger District of the USFS. They have been feverishly scouting new potential release sites, releasing beetles from 3 different rearing labs, and collecting infested hemlock branches to help feed the hungry larvae & beetles. Once again, I thank all of my student workers & volunteers who tirelessly toil in our lab (with little recognition), and those who have donated to our project and to the other beetlerearing laboratories. Numerous other groups and agencies have played a large role in this effort. I also want to thank the Young Harris College faculty, staff and students for their steady support of this project. I also want to thank everyone for their patience as it takes me a bit longer these days to return phone calls and e-mails due to the current intensity of production! Remember also that we still have plenty of official YHC predatory beetle T-shirts! The shirt will be given to folks who make a $25 (or greater) donation to the YHC Beetle lab. The shirt is available at the Advancement Office at Young Harris College. If you make a donation and you want a shirt, be sure to designate your shirt size (S, M, L, XL) and a mailing address if you can't pick up the shirt in person. Our laboratory hours are Monday, Wednesday & Friday from 1:30 - 4 p.m. We will often be in the laboratory at other times as well. We now have a phone in our laboratory: (706) 379-4210. You can also call me on my cell phone at 706-781-5946 or my office phone at 706-379-5131, or you can contact the office of our College President, Cathy Cox (706-379-5111), or our Advancement Office at (706) 379-5112. If you are interested in making a donation to our "beetle project": Checks can be sent to: Dr. Paul T. Arnold, Hemlock Project Director, P.O. Box 68, 1 College St., Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA, 30582. |
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