Appalachian Hemlock - Northern Hardwood Forest – CEGL006639

View of deep, north-facing cove below Hemlock Springs Overlook on Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park (Madison County), in June 2010; compare with previous photo taken in 1981 from a similar vantage point.  In the three decades between the photos, the hemlocks at this site were almost entirely killed by outbreaks of the introduced pathogen hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae), and the stand has now essentially changed to a northern hardwood forest.