[BNS_members] Riley Leaving

[Donna Crossland]

Hello fellow BNS members:

A short note to say that we are happy to have Riley join the Hemlock 
Woolly Adelgid (HWA) team at Kejimkujik.

We have a lot of work to complete in managing against the collapse of 
our most iconic conifer tree, the eastern hemlock. Riley will play an 
important role in prioritizing hemlock stands for possible treatment 
(pending Mi'kmaq consultations), assessing old growth hemlock stands, 
and participating in a number of monitoring strategies and research.

The only means of keeping our hemlock alive in the short-term against 
HWA is to use micro-injections of chemical every 5 + years, sort of like 
a COVID vaccine, but for hemlock-against HWA. Prices are now within 
reach for land owners who wish to place hemlocks on  temporary life 
support, and we are working within a cross-departmental group to strive 
for even cheaper solutions.  We are bracing to lose thousands of 
hemlocks in the park over the next 3-10 years.  The Canadian Forest 
Service is helping us build upon advanced research in the USA in 
long-term solutions using biocontrols, i.e., tiny predator beetles and 
silver flies.  The challenge is to keep trees alive in the interim while 
devising a safe and tested biocontrol  solution.  The pending loss of 
our last great hemlock forests occurs at a time when every mature tree 
counts for sequestering carbon against climate change effects.

We need the best and brightest minds to work on HWA, and are happy that 
Riley is joining our team as some of us grow rather battle weary.  Like 
many others, I've noticed her achievements and modern approach within 
BNS.  I hope she will stay involved in this amazing group of naturalists 
that have shared and taught many of us our best knowledge and respect 
for nature.

Welcome Riley!  BNS members can come and visit you in Keji this summer.

Regards,

Donna Crossland

/Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Project Coordinator/

/Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site/

On 2021-04-29 3:40 p.m., Riley Scanlan wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I hope you are safe and doing well during this new lockdown. As is commonly mentioned, though we are not able to gather with friends and family, nature remains a safe place to roam, think and have fun.
>
> I wanted to send a quick message to let you all know I have been offered an opportunity with Parks Canada, and will be leaving BNS soon. While I will remain a board member, I won't be able to do as much work as I do now. The main task that I hope will continue when I'm gone, with the help of a few volunteers, is the monthly enewsletter. If anyone is interested in working on this, please let me know.
>
> I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with BNS, I've learned so much and really enjoyed these past months. We have such an incredible group of members and board here!
>
> Lastly, for those of you interested, I'll be working with Kejimkujik’s forest research project to better understand hemlock woolly adelgid. Sounds like there will be a lot of field work, which I'm quite excited about. And as some of you know, I'm returning to do a masters program at Dalhousie in September. Hopefully, this work and my research can still be of interest to BNS and I'd be very happy to keep you all updated.
>
> If any of you are looking to become more involved in the Society please do reach out. There are a few areas we could use volunteers but the newsletter is a larger one. Now that it is all set up, I expect it to take about a day's work each month.
>
> Let me know if you have any questions.
>
> All the best,
> Riley


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