Bureau/Division/Agency

Forest Services

Document Type

Text

Exact Creation Date

5-14-2025

Description

Spruce Budworm (SBW) is a native insect that undergoes regional outbreaks and spreads through eruptive flights as moths disperse from heavily impacted areas to new ones. In northeastern North America, SBW outbreaks occur on average every 30-60 years and the last major SBW outbreak to directly affect Maine peaked from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. In neighboring Quebec, an ongoing spruce budworm has been unfolding since the early 2000s and has damaged upwards of 33.5 million acres during that time frame. Maine has experienced unstable spruce budworm populations since 2013, and in recent years, been on the receiving end of multiple in-flights from adjacent outbreak areas in Canada. 2024 witnessed a dramatic increase in local spruce budworm activity in Maine, with 3,455 acres of defoliation damage documented during aerial survey flights. This is perhaps just the tip of the iceberg however, as a model using data from Maine’s overwintering larval (L2) survey predicts that some 230 thousand acres of spruce-fir forest are currently harboring spruce budworm populations capable of escaping natural mortality factors and building to epidemic levels.

Language

English

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Rights Statement

No Copyright - United States. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
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