Gov. LePage, Budworm Task Force Release Risk Assessment and Response Plan

Gov. Paul R. LePage and members of the Maine Spruce Budworm Task Force released recommendations about how to respond to the upcoming spruce budworm investation.  To see the full report, click here.

 The Spruce Budworm is a native pest that threatens the spruce-fir forest in Maine.  Normally the budworm population is so low it is hard to detect without pheromone-baited traps.  The insect follows an approximately 40 year cycle in sync with maturing host trees.  During outbreaks budworm feeding on needles is so heavy that tree growth is reduced or trees are killed. 

     The Maine Forest Service (MFS), land owners and managers, other states, and Canadian Provinces use pheromone traps located throughout the spruce-fir resource to forecast spruce budworm trends.  Information from this network will support landowner decision making.  The MFS also runs light traps, conducts aerial and ground surveys and provides technical assistance and advice to landowners and managers.

     The Province of Quebec has been mapping defoliation from this pest for more than a decade.  In 2015, 15.6 million acres of forest were defoliated.  Significant defoliation occurred south of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

     In Maine we expect to see outbreak populations of spruce budworm beginning within the next three years.  The outbreak will last for many years.  Although significant, timber loss is expected to be less severe than the outbreak of the 1970’s - 80’s for a number of reasons:

• There is a less contiguous and younger fir forest
• Infrastructure is in place to facilitate targeted harvest,
• Warmer fall weather may reduce overwinter larval survival,
• Landowners and managers, Universities and State, Provincial and Federal governments have invested in preparing for the outbreak.