Picture yourself stepping into a quiet winter forest. Snow softens every sound, settling gently on the branches of towering evergreens. The air is crisp, the world still. Among the trees, eastern hemlocks stand out—dark, graceful, and steady, their evergreen needles offering life and color when everything else sleeps. They line the ravines, cluster along icy streams, and form the quiet backbone of the winter woods.

Now imagine this same forest without hemlock trees.

Hemlocks are more than iconic evergreens—they’re foundational and keystone species that shape entire forest ecosystems. They provide shade for streams, keeping them cool for trout; they offer food and shelter for wildlife, stabilize steep slopes, filter water, and store impressive amounts of carbon. In many places, hemlocks are the forest, but an invasive insect is threatening their survival. 

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) is putting these trees at risk. This tiny sap‑feeding pest drains hemlocks of nutrients, leading to thinning canopies, dying buds, and eventually tree death. As hemlocks disappear, cool, moist forests shift into hotter, drier landscapes where wildlife struggle, lose food and shelter, and invasive plants can quickly move in.

HWA has been in New York since the 1980s, with major infestations downstate and in the Finger Lakes. While the St. Lawrence Eastern Lake Ontario region currently has fewer infestations—mainly in Oswego County near Eastern Lake Ontario and Oneida Lake—the threat is growing. Hemlock-rich forests in the Tug Hill Plateau and Adirondacks could be next.

Protecting our winter forests starts with early detection, quick reporting, and community action.