MARVINDALE — A Smethport area company will play a key role in eradicating invasive insect hemlock woolly adelgid at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset.

Heather McKean, owner of the four-year old Marvindale-based McKean Environmental Solutions LLC, that specializes in forest health services, invasive species identification and treatment, mosquito control and pest control services, told The Era, “There are about 14 forested acres at the crash site dominantly covered with hemlocks. Some of the forested area was damaged from the crash, and the National Park Service wishes to preserve the remaining hemlocks and several newly planted hemlock saplings to maintain the aesthetic and ecological value of the area.”

The Flight 93 National Memorial is located at the site of the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, which was the fourth airliner hijacked on September 11, 2001, in the worst terrorist attacks on American soil. It honors the passengers and crew who stopped the hijackers from reaching their intended target — presumably the Capitol in Washington, D.C. — by confronting and fighting the terrorists.

The plane crashed in Stoneycreek Township, Somerset County, approximately two miles north of Shanksville, killing all 44 aboard.

In his book, Fall and Rise — The Story of 9/11, Mitchell Zuckoff writes: “Flight 93 struck the ground at a 40-degree angle, nearly upside down, its nose and right wing hitting first.

“Its fuel-filled wings detonated on impact, sending up the fireball and plume of smoke.

“The cockpit and front section blasted forward into hemlocks.”

It is the health and vitality of those hemlocks that McKean was hired to protect.

McKean Environmental Solutions LLC won the contract through a competitive bidding procedure of the National Park Service that required references and experience.

“This is the same type of work I conduct each year at Cook Forest State Park and a project in 2019 near Benezette in Elk County and Hick’s Run in Cameron County,” McKean noted.

The company is also licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

This is a three-year contract that begins in the spring of 2021.

The hemlock woolly adelgid is a non-native species that threatens the survival of the hemlocks at the memorial. Accidentally introduced into the United States in 1924, the HWA was first recorded to be in Pennsylvania in 1967. This very tiny insect can be identified by its egg sacs, which resemble small tufts of cotton clinging to the bottom of hemlock branches.

“The United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service helped select the trees that will be treated at the Memorial,” McKean said, “so we will treat all the trees in several areas and zones of the Flight 93 Memorial over the three years of the contract period.”

Pesticides provide an effective treatment to save the Eastern hemlock and Carolina hemlock. As of 2015, records show that 90 percent of the geographic range of the Eastern hemlocks in North America have been affected by HWA infestations.

McKean said, “The types of treatment will include soil injection, basal treatment, trunk injection and horticultural oil application.”

The soil injection method uses a mixture of a specific chemical and water which is injected into the soil at the base of the tree.

With the basal bark applications, technicians use a low-pressure spray of a pesticide at the bark on the bottom four to five feet until it drips and penetrates the bark.

Pesticides injected directly into the tree trunk is an economical method of killing HWA.

When applying horticultural oils, technicians completely cover the tops and bottoms of the needles and branches.

Once the application process actually begins, McKean will be actively involved, providing hands-on assistance for her employees, as well as supervising the treatments.

McKean earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

Prior to establishing her own company, she was a watershed specialist for the McKean County Conservation District from 2002 to 2017 and a Penn State Extension natural resource educator from November 2017 until May 2018.

Commenting on her company’s projects, McKean said, “I am honored to be doing the work at the Memorial and in the state forests and game lands. It is meaningful work for such an ecologically important tree.”