A federal budget deal could include $14 million dollars to help suppress a spruce budworm outbreak threatening Maine’s northern forests.
Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins said the funding was included in a disaster relief bill under consideration by lawmakers in Washington.
The money would help kill native budworms occupying at least 250,000 acres of spruce and fir trees in Aroostook County. Eastern spruce budworms are considered one of the most damaging forest insects in North America.
It’s the biggest surge in budworm population since a outbreak in the 1970s and 1980s defoliated millions of acres of Maine woodlands and cost the timber industry hundreds of millions of dollars.
Landowners and forestry experts worry that without early intervention through pesticide and other means, the insects could spread out of control. A years-long infestation has ravaged nearby forests in Quebec.
A cooperative of landowners plans to treat affected woodlands this spring in an effort to beat the insects back to endemic levels, a strategy that has successfully protected forests in New Brunswick.
In a statement, Collins said that if left untreated, spruce budworm could spread to six million acres of forest.
"Throughout history, spruce budworm outbreaks have proven harmful to Maine’s forest products industry, resulting in the loss of timberland, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars and good-paying jobs," the senator said.
The potential funding would be supplemented by private and state funding, according to Collins.
A spokesperson for Collins said the relief money is included in a budget package that needs to pass by Friday to avoid a government shutdown.
