On Thursday morning, more than 1,700 Laricobius Nigrinus, also known as "Little Larry," were released in the Zoar Valley Multi-Use Area.
The Laricobius Nigrinus beetles eat invasive species like the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, which consumes the Eastern Hemlocks in the Northeast.
WKBW
WKBW
"It feeds on Eastern Hemlock and Carolina Hemlock in the South and it is found in large parts of the range in Southern Appalachia up into New York and as far as Maine," said Nicholas Dietschler, a research assistant with the NYS Hemlock Initiative with Cornell University.
Hemlocks in New York provide stabilization for water temperature to keep trout alive. They also provide a habitat for deer and also birds.
"When we lose the hemlock ecosystem, we're losing the different services that tree provides not just for people but for all of the wildlife," said Dietschler.
The beetles will eat the Adelgid from the fall into the spring when the DEC and other partners release another species to protect the ecosystem.
