Spreading the word

Fight to protect Kentville Ravine from hemlock woolly adelgid continues

Christianne Hagerman is optimistic about the progress being made to help protect a Kentville forest from a potentially destructive insect.

The Acadia University graduate raised the issue of hemlock woolly adelgid in a social media post in November and started a GoFundMe campaign to help protect the Kentville Ravine from the insect. She is now part of the Kentville Ravine Advisory Group and will be representing it during presentations to both Kentville town council and the Municipality of the County of Kings council later this month to raise awareness of the issue.

“I’m really excited by the amount of discussion that has come just from me posting on Facebook that I wanted to see something happen,” she said. “It’s just gone so much farther than I could have imagined, and I am really happy that there are lots of accredited voices who are at the table.”

Those voices include people who have worked at Kentville Research and Development Centre, which is located near the ravine, retired professors from Acadia,

ecologists and forestry specialists, and others.

“They know what they’re talking about,” she said. “This is really being done with the utmost care.”

The GoFundMe campaign was started on Nov. 25. It had raised $4,885 as of Jan. 10, nearly halfway towards its goal of $10,000.

And while pleased with the progress, Hagerman knows it needs to continue.

“The clock is ticking,” she said, noting hemlock woolly adelgid has been spotted recently in the Gaspereau area.