BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 3, 2024
A beetle half the size of a grain of rice, pushed north by a warming climate, is prompting foresters to take action to protect the Waterboro Pine Barrens, which span Newfield, Shapleigh and Waterboro. The pitch pines there are favorite eating and breeding grounds for the southern pine beetles, first found in York County in 2021. The beetles can marshal into swarms that attack and tunnel through pitch pines, choking off nourishment and killing them within weeks. They already have killed thousands of acres of pine forest in the southern United States and on Long Island, New York. They have been spotted on Cape Cod in their move north but remain scarce in Maine, with no infestations reported yet.