Invasive insects make a meal out of county’s hemlocks

By Kevin Limiti

An invasive species with an odd name is causing concern in Otsego County after conservationists discovered the destructive insect at parks in Cooperstown and around Oneonta.

The Hemlock Wooly Adelgid (HWA) is a tiny bug that infests hemlock trees, which experts warn could cause catastrophic environmental damage.

The insect in question came from the Far East in the 1920s and was discovered in New York State in the 1980s, and gets it name from the wool-like mask it generates around itself and looks like a cotton ball in the trees when an infestation is bad enough.

Now, it has been found ravaging hemlock in Fairy Springs Park in Cooperstown and Robert V. Riddell Park in Davenport.