Spruce Budworm Outbreak Preparation Focus of UMaine Conference
To help forest managers prepare for the next spruce budworm outbreak, the University of Maine’s Cooperative Forestry Research Unit (CFRU) is hosting a Spruce Budworm Workshop on Thursday, Oct. 30 at the Wells Conference Center.
Nearly 150 foresters from more than 25 CFRU member organizations will attend the conference to hear about the latest research on the insect.
The spruce budworm is the most damaging forest insect in North America. Returning to northern Maine every 30 to 60 years in a natural cycle, the budworm kills balsam fir and spruce trees. During the last outbreak in the 1970s through ’80s, the insect killed 20–25 million cords of spruce-fir wood across northern Maine, costing the state’s forest-based economy hundreds of millions of dollars. It also changed the course of forest management for the next 40 years.
The next outbreak is approaching. More than 10 million acres of spruce-fir forest have been severely defoliated by spruce budworm caterpillars in Quebec. Affected forests are within a few miles of Maine’s northern border.
Sen. Tom Saviello, representing Maine Senate District 18, will open the meeting. Saviello received his Ph.D. in forest resources from UMaine in 1978 and spent his early career working in Maine’s forest during the last spruce budworm outbreak.
Thirteen forestry experts from across Canada and the United States will describe what is known about spruce budworm populations, forest risks, management responses, and options for controlling the insect and protecting the spruce-fir forest.
UMaine’s CFRU has been collaborating with the Maine Forest Service and Maine Forest Products Council in leading a joint statewide spruce budworm task force. The group has spent the past year preparing a risk assessment and preparation plan for Maine’s forest landowners and forest products industry. A draft report is complete and includes more than 70 recommendations to help forestry professionals respond to the coming outbreak. The task force will release a draft of the report in mid-November to solicit public review and comment on the plan.
Contact: Elyse Kahl, 207.581.3747