The eastern spruce budworm may be coming to Maine, let’s hope not because it’s a nasty little bugger. The state of Maine is laying out plans to contain it should it come.

When an outbreak occurs it kills balsam, fir and spruce trees, it’s one of the most destructive insects in North America. Right now, the insect is in New Brunswick, Canada, right on the border of Maine and a budworm task force is keeping an eye on it and looking into ways of dealing with it if it gets closer.

An outbreak happens every 30 to 60 years. In the 1970’s a budworm outbreak destroyed about 25 million cords of spruce and fir tress in Maine costing the state’s forest economy hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

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