Warnell professor helps keep U.S. forests healthy February 19, 2021 Elizabeth McCarty helps landowners make research-based decisions The research and outreach of the University of Georgia’s Elizabeth McCarty has helped keep more than 150,000 towering hemlocks across the eastern United States healthy, all while minimizing the use of insecticide. McCarty, an assistant professor in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, developed a method to optimize the dosing of an insecticide that controls a pest from Asia that has devastated hemlocks from the north Georgia mountains to Maine. The trees require treatment every five to seven years, meaning that insecticides targeted against the invasive hemlock wooly adelgid (pronounced uh-del-jid) provide only a partial victory. Still, the destruction caused by the hemlock wooly adelgid is emblematic of the complexity of the challenges that are facing U.S. forests, which—depending on their location and management plan—provide recreation, habitat, clean water and nearly $22 billion in annual revenue from timber and related industries in Georgia alone.