MAINE PUBLIC • December 11, 2024
An outbreak of spruce budworm, one of the most damaging forest insects, is threatening hundreds of thousands of acres of forest in northern Maine. 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. 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.