County Conservation Organizations Make Winter Push Against Invasives

Zoom Workshop on iMapInvasives Set for Wednesday, January 21

OTSEGO COUNTY
BILL BELLEN

Beginning December 21 of 2025 and running through March 19, the Otsego Outdoors Winter Octet serves as a crucial component of the winter season efforts of Otsego County environmental organizations to raise awareness of local natural beauty and preservation.

A collaborative program among partner organizations Otsego 2000, the Otsego County Conservation Association, Otsego Land Trust and the Butternut Valley Alliance, Otsego Outdoors has proudly organized the Winter Octet since February of 2021. As the Otsego 2000 page on the challenge details, the Winter Octet is a series of walks, hikes, cross-country skiing trails, and other winter activities that, if completed, provide the participant with the reward of “an embroidered patch, a water-proof sticker, and a listing on the Otsego Outdoors Challenge roster.”

This year, OCCA has furthered its partnership with Otsego Outdoors by developing the “Spot the Invasives” scavenger hunt—an optional additional layer of the Winter Octet for those interested in turning their county exploration into some bonus volunteer work. In particular, this scavenger hunt focuses on locating the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid.

“Hemlock woolly adelgid is an insect pest that attacks eastern hemlock trees in our area, and it has no natural enemies,” shared Jeff O’Handley, program director at OCCA.

The insect reproduces rapidly and an infestation can kill a hemlock tree in roughly 10 years, once they get established,” O’Handley said.

Hemlocks serve as an important source of both food and cover for wildlife—shading streams, helping improve water quality, and maintaining water temperatures for trout spawning and other aquatic organisms. Severe impacts of what a rampant spread of this insect looks like can be seen in the Catskills and Pennsylvania, where the pest has been present for a longer span than in Otsego County.

“The biology of this insect makes it difficult to really prevent the spread, but generally, if you want to plant hemlocks, buy native eastern hemlocks, as opposed to western or Asian species,” O’Handley advised.

For those partaking in the scavenger hunt—or who simply want to keep their eyes peeled for unwanted pests—a digital informational pamphlet e-mailed out by OCCA shares that the insects are “often easiest to spot in colder weather. Look closely at the base of hemlock needles for small, white, cotton-ball-like masses.”

In addition, individuals can participate in conservation and threat prevention further still by just picking up their phones. iMapInvasives—a database available as both an app and webpage—is a reporting tool used by New York State and land management professionals across the state for recording the presence of invasive species, as well as coordinating treatment efforts to combat them. By allowing anyone to submit relevant reported sightings, the service acts as a way of notifying authorities to the emergence or resurfacing of invasive threats and serves as an early-warning system to potentially prevent the spread of invasives—a particularly crucial capability when considering the blight of spotted lanternflies affecting neighboring counties.

“It [iMapInvasives] allows people to report on their own time,” Kendall Jacob, volunteer coordinator at OCCA, explained. “So if you’re just in the Village of Cooperstown taking a walk and you can see a sign of an emerald ash borer in an ash tree, [you can report it]. It’s just a quick and easy way that volunteers can contribute to the work.”

OCCA will be hosting a Zoom workshop in coordination with the Cornell Master Gardeners Program on Wednesday, January 21 to teach people how to best utilize the resources of iMapInvasives and how to use it to take action to defend the ecology of their community.

“We’re trying to do a big push organization-wide for more independent volunteer activity and, this year, we’re trying to get more and more volunteers who are interested in either preventing invasive species or pulling invasive species involved on an independent level,” Jacob commented. “We want to be able to give our community members the tools to properly identify invasive species and participate in the work.”

Between the Winter Octet, the Spot the Invasives scavenger hunt, and the training on iMapInvasives, conservationists in the county are looking to start the new year off with an environmentally-conscious bang. Information regarding the Winter Octet and the upcoming iMapInvasives workshop can be found at https://otsegooutdoors.org/our-challenge/ and Occainfo.org/imapsignup, respectively. Additionally, signups to take part in OCCA’s hemlock woolly adelgid volunteer surveys and the upcoming Hemlock Palooza on Saturday, February 28 can be found at Occainfo.org/signupinvasives.