Volunteers have proven to be a powerful tool in the battle against the hemlock wooly adelgid in the forest at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. A new campaign to continue treatments to the trees asks for citizens to adopt a tree and chemically treat it.

The U.S. Forest Service announced this week the publication of its first ever national-level direction on the management of invasive species across the National Forest System. This policy adds new requirements for agency-wide integration of invasive species prevention, early detection and rapid response, control, restoration, and collaborative activities across NFS lands.

Washington State is convening a committee of foresters, scientists and other experts in an effort to contain a pending forest health epidemic east of the Cascades. Over the next 15 years, state projections indicate that elevated tree mortality could occur across 2.8 million acres of Eastern Washington, or roughly one-third of the landscape. "The combination of the projections and the actual mortality we're seeing causes us alarm," said Aaron Everett, Washington's State Forester. "It's certainly compounded by...what we anticipate will be a warmer climate."

The U.S. Forest Service has protected one million acres of forest through its Southern Pine Beetle Prevention Program. The milestone was reached this fall, on private land in New Kent County, VA. The program spans 13 states and crosses boundaries from privately owned land to state and national forests, aiming to prevent future outbreaks and losses. More than 13,000 individual landowners have participated in the program, together with hundreds of loggers and contractors across the South, to improve the health of southern forests.