Twenty-four bands are going to rock to save the hemlock tree this weekend at Starbridge Sanctuary near Dahlonega.

From Friday through Sunday, singer-songwriters, bluegrass bands and Celtic rockers including Col. Bruce Hampton and the Quark Alliance will convene on the 49-acre wooded area surrounding a lake to participate in the third annual HemlockFest.

Friday night’s lineup includes Tim Quigley, Family Honor, Blue Mother Tupelo and Emerald Rose. Saturday’s performers include Phyllis Tannerfrye, Rebecca Jean Smith, Rising Appalachia and the Dylan Blues Project. On Sunday, bands include Moses Cotton, Local Honey, Gold Rush and The Packway Handle Band.

Campers can also participate in an acoustic jam around the bonfire on Friday and Saturday nights after the bands stop playing.

The event will raise money to aid the rescue of Georgia’s hemlock trees from the woolly adelgid parasite.

The aphid-like insect was accidentally introduced to the east coast from Asia during the 1950s, and in just the past few years, it has devastated much of the hemlock population throughout the Southeast.

The parasite attaches itself to the tree and drains the hemlock of its sap, often killing it in three to 10 years. The hemlock woolly adelgid spread from Virginia to Maine, and then to Georgia.

"Most of the hemlock ranges now in Georgia have reports of infestation, so we’re on a clock of about ... five to 10 years before we start seeing some major damage, and that’s too late to be jumping on this problem," said Forest Hilyer, chairman of the Lumpkin Coalition, the nonprofit agency organizing HemlockFest 2007.

"We’re looking at 80 to 90 percent of devastation to hemlocks if we don’t do anything," Hilyer said. "Even if we do something, we’re going to lose a lot of hemlocks."

And that could mean bad news for North Georgia’s outdoor tourism economy, he said.

"(People) don’t want to come here, economically and aesthetically speaking, if it doesn’t look good," he said.

Hilyer said the hemlocks are one of Georgia’s most ecologically important trees because they live along watersheds and rivers, and they are responsible for a lot of water filtration.

The trees’ low bows also help to maintain the temperature of streams housing temperature-sensitive species such as trout and crayfish, he said.

Hilyer added that 90 bird species are associated with the hemlock, and many animals use it for shelter in the winter.

According to the Lumpkin Coalition, the woolly adelgid has already infested hemlocks in Rabun, Towns, Habersham, Union, White, Fannin and Lumpkin counties and are continuing to travel.

Hilyer said that if nothing is done to ward off the insect, more than 80 percent of Georgia’s hemlocks may die in the next six to 12 years. But, he said that introducing a number of beetle species that prey primarily on the woolly adelgid is key to preserving hemlock trees.

Labs that raise the beetles — which create a predator-prey balance — are operating at the University of Georgia in Athens and at Young Harris College.

All money raised at the festival will benefit the development of another beetle-raising lab at North Georgia College & State University.

The previous two HemlockFests raised $10,000 each to benefit the Lumpkin Coalition’s effort to save the tree, Hilyer said. And festival organizers expect 1,000 attendees this year, about 300 more than last year.

Hilyer said the Turner Foundation, a private foundation founded by Ted Turner to help prevent damage to the ecosystem, will match proceeds from the festival up to $75,000.

HemlockFest 2007 features three days of music, two nights of primitive camping and ecology experts to explain the hemlock dilemma.

Food and craft vendors will offer hemlock tea, pottery, Guatemalan clothing and henna body painting.

There are planned activities for all ages including yoga, morning bird walks, canoeing, fishing and fire dance shows.