Fir Skeletons near Clingman's Dome

Here is a view of the forest looking north from the parking lot at the end of Clingman's Dome Road. It was just after 6 PM and the sun was getting low in the sky toward my left. I wanted to capture both the beauty and sadness of this scene--the beauty of the Smoky Mountain forest at this high elevation and the sadness of dead Frazier firs.
At first I thought these were dead hemlocks, but I spoke with some folks who know a lot more about this topic than I do. From these folks, I learned that these are fir "skeletons" left behind from attacks by parasites that are of a different species but similar to the insects attacking the hemlocks today. These bugs invaded the Appalachians about 50 years ago and left these dead fir trees in their wake. A similar story could be currently unfolding for the hemlocks...
Speaking of hemlocks:
The eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, is currently one of the most common trees in the Smoky Mountains. However, this may soon change. Sadly, the Hemlocks are being killed by a non-native insect called the hemlock woolly adelgid, which was first discovered in the US in the 1950s near Richmond, Va. According to a park publication, "The insect feeds at the base of hemlock needles, disrupting nutrient flow and eventually causing the tree to starve to death." At this point, hemlocks show no natural resistance to this 6-legged parasite, and it is feared the hemlocks may endure the same fate as the American chestnut, no longer dominant in the eastern forest, nor extinct, the chestnut scrapes by its existence, appearing as ocassional saplings and small trees, and is hardly noticed anymore. But it is still there, and there is still hope for the chestnut. Let's hope the same is true for the hemlock, which just so happens to be one of my favorite trees.