Education Commons^™

Coming Spruce Budworm Outbreak: Initial Risk Assessment And Preparation & Response Recommendations For Maine's Forestry Community, Cooperative Forestry Research Unit, University Of Maine, Maine Forest Products Council, Maine Forest Service

General University of Maine Publications

The Maine Spruce Budworm Task Force was formed in summer 2013 by the University of Maine’s Cooperative Forestry Research Unit (CFRU), Maine Forest Service (MFS), and Maine Forest Products Council (MFPC) to begin preparing for the next outbreak of the eastern spruce budworm.

The last SBW outbreak during the 1970s–80s grew quickly, killed millions of acres of spruce-fir stands, and cost the region’s economy many hundreds of millions of dollars. Although it is not possible to predict exactly when defoliation of balsam fir and spruce will begin, how severe the next outbreak will eventually become, or how long it will …