An outbreak of spruce budworm, one of the most damaging forest insects, is threatening hundreds of thousands of acres of forest in northern Maine, forestry experts said.
About 250,000 acres on the northeast border are at risk from an infestation triggered by moths blown in from huge outbreaks in Quebec and Ontario, according to Alex Ingraham with Pingree Associates one of the biggest landowners in the state. If left unaddressed, the outbreak could quickly spread, he said during a webinar hosted by the Maine Chamber of Commerce.
State foresters and landowners are anxious to confront the problem early and hopefully avoid a widespread epidemic such as the one that defoliated millions of acres across state and crippled forestry businesses in the 1970s and 1980s.
Budworm larvae are native to the northeast. They emerge in the early spring and devour fir and spruce needles before undergoing metamorphosis into moths. The insects have periodic population surges, including a years-long outbreak that has demolished forest in northern Quebec and Ontario.
Monitors discovered widespread evidence of budworms along the northeast border this summer, from moths from the Canadian infestation blown into the state.
To blunt budworm creep, the state and landowners need to quickly target pesticide treatments on affected areas, Ingraham said.
"We need to ensure we have the right tools in place and the right coordination to make sure this does not become an economic disaster," Ingraham said.
Early intervention strategies have worked in New Brunswick and kept the budworm population stable compared to out of control growth in Quebec, Ingraham said.
"These early intervention treatments on the targeted acres where the outbreak is occurring can keep the population at a stable level over a decade," he said.
But the clock is ticking to line up funding and coordinate state and private resources. Ingraham said partners have until early spring to line up funding and then only a short window of time in May and June when larvae are active to conduct treatments.