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The U.S. Forest Service has approved a grant sought by Kentucky and Tennessee in their effort to protect hemlock trees threatened by an invasive pest, officials from both states said.

The hemlock woolly adelgid, an Asian insect that was first found in Virginia in the 1950s, has sickened and killed hemlocks in at least 68 counties in eastern parts of both states.

The states will divide proceeds from the $606,800 award, with Kentucky spending most of its money on trying to establish a population of adelgid-eating beetles in areas near hemlock stands. Tennessee, which has released beetles into its forests, plans to focus on treating trees with chemicals.

Kentucky has been applying chemicals to the base of hemlock trees for years. The next step is introducing the beetles in hopes of establishing “field insectaries” – places in the wild where the predators can be gathered, said Alice Mandt, the state’s hemlock woolly adelgid coordinator. “The bigger idea is to build the population of beetles there so we can go there once or twice a year and collect beetles and release them elsewhere in the state,” Mandt said.

The first beetles will be placed on a small swath of public land near the Daniel Boone National Forest, but an exact location hasn’t been determined, she said. The 708,000- acre forest covers 21 counties in eastern Kentucky, including the Red River Gorge geological area.

From WDRB.com: https://www.wdrb.com/story/29465039/us-forest-service-oks-grant-for-kentucky-tennessee-in-battle-against-hemlock-killer