Managing Hemlock Woolly Adelgid with Nicholas Dietschler

On this Wednesday's show, we'll be talking to Nick Dietschler at the Hemlock Initiative to see how things are going with combatting the devastating hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). HWA is an exotic insect that has wreaked havoc on the eastern US's hemlock trees beginning in the mid-1900s. Nick grew up in the Finger Lakes Region of New York, and moved to Ithaca in 2014. He received an Associates in Natural Resources Conservation from Finger Lakes Community College, Bachelors in Conservation Biology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and a Masters in Natural Resources from Cornell University. Before coming to the Hemlock Initiative at Cornell, he spent a season with the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation conducting hemlock and balsam woolly adelgid surveys throughout New York. At NYSHI, Nick manages many aspects of the program’s field work, works with statewide collaborators, and coordinates NYSHI’s bio-control release program. Nick’s research focuses on understanding plant-pest interactions and predator community ecology, and their influence on integrated pest management in forest systems.